The Coronavirus SSP rebate scheme, which had been available for employers with fewer than 250 employees, closed on 30 September but there is still time to claim for earlier periods of sickness.

It means that employers will no longer be able to claim for a rebate of qualifying SSP payments for any period of an employee’s coronavirus-related absence after 30 September 2021. However, they will have until 31 December 2021 to claim a refund of qualifying SSP payments related to employees’ absence (of up to two weeks) up to, and including, 30 September 2021.

If as an employer you have made a claim under the scheme, you must keep records of SSP claimed back from HMRC for 3 years after the date they received the reimbursement. This must include a record of:

– the dates the employee was off sick;
– which of those dates were qualifying days;
– the reason the employee said they were off work, i.e. if they had symptoms, someone they lived with had symptoms or they were shielding; and
– the employee’s National Insurance number.

Visit the Gov.UK site to make a claim.