Statutory Payment Rates 2026/27

Alongside the UK Budget, payroll professionals should also consider the ‘Proposed benefit and pension rates 2026/2027’ document.

As announced at point 4.6, working age benefits payments will increase by 3.8% in line with Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation in the year to September 2025.

Many of the benefit and pension rates do not impact payroll, for example, Personal Independent Payments and Jobseekers’ Allowance.  However, the above document does propose the Statutory Sick Pay and child-related statutory (that the UK Budget has confirmed).  There are different effective dates for these increases:

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) always increases on the first day of the tax year; but
• Child-related statutory payments increase for the week commencing with the first Sunday in April (05 April 2026)

Also note that for child-related statutory payments, there is a requirement that earnings are at or above the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) for National Insurance Contributions.  This was one of the thresholds that was not frozen at the UK Budget and increases to £129.00 per week in 2026/27 (currently £125 per week).  However, from 06 April 2026, there will be no requirement to be earning at this level to be entitled to SSP.

ICB details the proposed weekly amounts, though the increases have been confirmed at the UK Budget.  We do need the legislation, though, to bring these into force:

For Bookkeepers

Although these have been confirmed and are all in line with the inflationary increase and the rounding rules, we won’t know the actual rates until these proposed ones are put into legislation.

Also, as noted above, whilst earnings at the LEL is still a consideration for child-related statutory payments (£129.00 per week in 2026/27), it will not be an eligibility consideration for SSP.