Employees who isolate post-holiday not eligible for SSP

With the government’s recent decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on travellers arriving into the UK from Spain, employers should familiarise themselves with the current legislation which will affect any employee returning from Spain after July 26.

An employee who has returned from a country that is not on the UK’s ‘no self isolation requirement’ list must go into quarantine for 14 days. On many sites, this is called self-isolation, however, this type of isolation differs from the rules that are applied to COVID-19 self-isolation.

Employees who are having to isolate after returning from a holiday or business trip are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they cannot work from home. If they can work from home, then they can be paid as normal. An employer can ask the employee to take additional holiday to cover this period so that the employee receives pay, alternatively, the employee will be placed on unpaid leave.

Employers can choose to pay SSP to employees, however, there is no obligation to. Employers should ensure that they communicate this to employees and employees should communicate with employers, so that all parties are aware of the situation before it occurs.

Employees should be reminded that if they break quarantine rules, a fine of £1,000 can be imposed.

SSP is payable when an employee:

• Has COVID-19;
• Has COVID-19 symptoms;
• Someone in their household has COVID-19 symptoms;
• Has been told to ’shield’ by the NHS because of an underlying health condition;
• Has been told to self-isolate by a doctor or NHS 111;
• Has been told to self-isolate by a government ’test and trace’ service, because they’ve been in close contact with someone who tested positive FOR COVID-19.