The UK cleaning industry is facing another significant employment cost as new Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules come into force on April 6th. Following a difficult year in 2025 with the increases to employer National Insurance and a rise in the National Minimum Wage, the latest changes could have a noticeable impact on labour-intensive sectors such as contract cleaning.

The government’s intention is to strengthen financial protection for workers who are unable to work due to illness. However, for employers managing large, dispersed workforces—often with high numbers of part-time or lower-paid staff—the reforms will also require careful planning and monitoring.

Key changes to SSP

Three major changes are expected to take effect from April 2026.

1. Day-one entitlement
   Under current rules, employees must serve three unpaid “waiting days” before they become eligible for SSP. From April 2026, these waiting days will be abolished, meaning SSP will be payable from the first qualifying day of sickness absence.
2. Removal of the earnings threshold
   Currently, employees must earn above the Lower Earnings Limit to qualify for SSP. This threshold will be removed, extending eligibility to more workers—including many part-time and lower-paid employees.
3. New SSP payment calculation
   For workers earning below the standard SSP threshold, payments will be calculated as 80% of average weekly earnings or the standard SSP rate—whichever is lower. This change is intended to ensure sick pay remains proportionate to earnings while widening access to support.

These changes will significantly expand an employer’s responsibility for short-term sickness absence. Previously, these short absences often carried disruption but no SSP cost, but from April, a single sick day will create a direct payroll expense – alongside the cost of replacement cover. Combined with the 2025 increases, this adds further pressure to already stretched margins. Ensuring you’re ready to meet these new costs is essential as you may not be able to rely on passing them on to clients as fixed-price contracts may not allow this in the short to medium term. These reforms are expected to extend SSP coverage to over one million additional workers across the UK workforce and could increase SSP costs by around 20%.

Why cleaning businesses should take note

For many cleaning companies, these changes could affect both absence management and payroll costs.

The removal of waiting days means even short periods of sickness absence—such as one- or two-day illnesses—will now attract SSP. Historically, those first three unpaid days often acted as a natural barrier against very short-term absence.

At the same time, the removal of the earnings threshold means a greater proportion of cleaning staff will qualify for sick pay for the first time.

While this may increase short-term costs for employers, there could also be longer-term benefits. Employees who feel financially supported when unwell may be less likely to attend work while sick, reducing the risk of illness spreading across teams or client sites.

Three practical steps for contract cleaning companies

With the reforms approaching, cleaning contractors may want to review their sickness absence strategies. Three practical steps could help minimise disruption.

1. Strengthen absence monitoring
   Accurate and timely data is essential. Proactive tracking of sickness absence by employee, team or contract site can help identify patterns such as frequent short-term absences or operational pressures that may be contributing to illness.
2. Reinforce return-to-work procedures
   Return-to-work discussions remain one of the most effective tools for managing attendance. Even brief conversations following short absences can help identify underlying issues and reinforce attendance expectations. Supporting employee wellbeing and safe working practices can reduce both illness-related absence and workplace injuries
3. Online workforce planning and cover management: Manage the day to day with more efficiency. Use online processes to:

• See live staffing gaps across contracts/multisite and reallocate available staff quickly.
• Automatically apply day-one SSP rules to live payroll systems.
• Reduce payroll errors and manual administration.

The SSP reforms go beyond a simple administrative change; they signal a fundamental shift in how absence costs impact labour-intensive sectors such as the cleaning industry. This year’s change will require updated payroll and HR processes, making digital workforce management tools increasingly essential rather than optional. Cleaning companies that adopt technology to automate compliance, manage absence proactively and gain clearer insight into labour data will be better equipped to manage rising employment costs while protecting margins. As SSP eligibility expands to include more part-time workers, businesses that focus on good data, clear communication and proactive workforce management will be best positioned to remain compliant and financially resilient.