What happens to your pay if you are off sick?
Choose ordinary sickness or an injury on duty, say how many weeks you might be off and how much paid sickness you have used in the last year. See when full pay ends, what half pay is worth, your weekly take-home and the total pay lost.
Your absence
Ordinary sickness: 6 months full pay in any 12-month period, then up to 6 months half pay.
Week-by-week gross pay
Dashed line is your normal payFull-pay weeks are SSP plus an employer top-up so the total equals normal pay. From week 27 the employer may reduce pay by up to half. Half pay: £386.99 a week from the employer, plus SSP of £123.25 a week while it is payable (to week 28).
Your entitlement in numbers
| Phase | Weeks | Gross a week | Take-home a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full pay | 26 | £773.99 | £547.00 |
| Half pay (employer may reduce) | 26 | £386.99 + SSP £123.25 to week 28 | £311.99 |
| After that | Discretion only | £0 guaranteed | £0 |
Take-home is a PAYE run-rate estimate using the 2026/27 rest-of-UK tax and National Insurance rates and your pension contribution, on a standard tax code. Tax and NI are re-balanced through the year, so real payslips will differ a little.
How Statutory Sick Pay fits in
GOV.UK gives SSP as £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. For you that is £123.25 a week. The Grey Book scheme supplements SSP, so on full pay your SSP plus the employer top-up equals your normal pay; it is not paid on top of it. SSP rules have been changing, so check GOV.UK for the current qualifying rules and any waiting days.
What it does to your pension
Pension contributions are taken on the pay you actually receive, so on half pay your contributions fall too. On this scenario that is about £164 less contribution than normal (at 12.59%). Whether the time on half pay counts in full or at reduced pay towards your CARE pension depends on the scheme regulations and your administrator's treatment, so the free tool does not put a figure on it. The premium scenarios show the worst case.
Sources
- NJC Scheme of Conditions of Service (Grey Book, 7th edition, April 2025), Sections 3 and 4: via the LGA
- GOV.UK: Statutory Sick Pay, what you'll get
Sick pay scheme as summarised in our firefighter sick pay guide (Grey Book Section 4 Part B). Six months is modelled as 26 weeks and twelve as 52. On-call staff have different averaging rules, so enter your average weekly wage as normal weekly pay and treat the result as approximate. Local attendance policies and employer discretion are not modelled.
Illustrative planning estimate based on published rules, not financial, legal, pension or tax advice. Your payroll record, contract and scheme administrator control your actual position.
The national sick pay scheme in one page
Firefighter sick pay is set in Section 4, Part B (Occupational Health) of the NJC Scheme of Conditions of Service, the Grey Book. It is a contractual scheme, much more generous than the statutory minimum that applies to most UK employees. The Grey Book says the provisions are intended to supplement Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and Employment and Support Allowance in order to maintain normal pay while you are entitled to full pay. There are two tracks. On the ordinary track you are entitled to full pay for six months in any twelve-month period, after which the employer may reduce your pay by up to half for a further six months. On the duty track, where the illness or injury arose out of authorised duty, you are entitled to full pay for twelve months and then up to half pay for six months. In exceptional cases the employer has discretion to extend the period of sick pay.
| Type of absence | Full pay | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary sickness | 6 months in any 12-month period | Up to half pay for 6 months (employer's discretion to reduce) |
| Illness or injury arising out of authorised duty | 12 months | Up to half pay for 6 months |
| Contact with an infectious disease preventing attendance | Full sick pay, not counted against your entitlement | - |
| Exceptional cases | Employer has discretion to extend; not an entitlement | |
These are national minimum terms, and the Grey Book does not carve out a qualifying period, so the entitlement applies from the start of employment. The calculator models six months as 26 weeks and twelve months as 52 weeks, which makes full pay 26 weeks and half pay a further 26 weeks on the ordinary track, and 52 plus 26 on the duty track.
How full pay and half pay are worked out
The Grey Book defines full pay carefully. For someone on authorised sick leave it is an amount which, when added to the SSP and ESA you receive, equals the contractual earnings you would be paid during a period of normal working. The employer tops up whatever the state pays so that the total matches your usual pay. For a day-crewing firefighter who also carries out retained duties, that includes the annual retainer and up to four weekly payments in a calendar year for routine training, development and maintenance sessions. Half pay is treated differently: when calculating it, any SSP or ESA you receive is disregarded, except where the resulting amount added to the state benefit would exceed normal pay. In no circumstances should sick pay, added to SSP and ESA, exceed your normal pay.
The calculator therefore shows full-pay weeks at your normal weekly pay (the split between SSP and the employer's top-up is just accounting), and half-pay weeks at 50% of normal pay from the employer, with SSP added while it is still payable if you leave that option on. SSP lasts for up to 28 weeks, so on the ordinary track it can only overlap with the first two weeks of half pay. GOV.UK gives the SSP rate as £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. SSP rules have been changing, so check GOV.UK for the current qualifying rules and any waiting days.
The rolling twelve-month rule
This is the part that catches people out. The period for which you are paid, and the rate, are worked out by deducting from your entitlement on the first day of absence the total of paid absence in the twelve months immediately before that day. Entitlement is not a fresh six months each calendar year; it is measured back from each new absence. If you already had four months of paid sickness in the past twelve, only two months of full pay remain, so a new three-month absence would be two months on full pay and one month on half pay. The calculator's box for paid sickness in the previous 12 months applies this deduction to the full-pay weeks first. It is a simplification (it does not track whether earlier absence was on full or half pay), so check the exact position with HR.
Worked example: a competent firefighter off sick
Take a competent firefighter on the July 2026 national basic salary of £40,358. Dividing by 52.143 gives about £774 a week, the figure the employer must in effect maintain during the full-pay period. Tax, National Insurance and pension contributions continue to be deducted from any pay you receive. In the calculator's estimate for an England-based firefighter that £774 a week gross is worth about £547 a week take-home after 2026/27 tax, National Insurance and a 12.59% pension contribution.
| Scenario | Full-pay weeks | Half-pay weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary sickness, 8 months, no earlier absence | About 26 | About 9 (up to 26 available) |
| Ordinary sickness, 3 months, after 4 paid months in the prior 12 | About 9 | About 4 |
| Injury on duty, 8 months | All 8 months | None |
| Injury on duty, 16 months | 12 months | About 4 months |
On half pay the same firefighter receives about £387 a week gross from the employer, roughly £312 a week take-home. In a 39-week ordinary absence the gross pay lost against normal pay is about £4,800 even though the whole of the first 26 weeks is protected, which is why a budget for the half-pay period matters. Employers apply their own payroll rounding and discretion to reduce to half pay.
Duty-related sickness and injury
The longer full-pay period exists because the Grey Book treats illness or injury arising out of authorised duty differently. Absence for ordinary sickness is recorded separately, and periods of one do not count against the other. If you and the service's medical adviser disagree about whether an illness or injury arose out of authorised duty, or about your fitness for duty, an independent medical opinion should be sought; where the parties cannot agree an appointee the matter goes to the NJC Joint Secretaries. The employer must reimburse NHS charges that arise directly from an injury on duty, and where damages may be recoverable from a third party it must advance a sum equivalent to sick pay, which you repay from any loss-of-earnings award. See our injured on duty guide and, if the injury may be permanent, the ill-health and injury calculator.
What you must do to keep your sick pay
Sick pay is conditional on following the notification and certification rules. Notify immediately the person your service has identified, give further notification of the nature and probable duration of the illness or injury as required, submit a fit note no later than the eighth calendar day of absence and follow-on notes as necessary, submit a final statement of fitness before returning where a note covers more than fourteen days, sign a statement of reasons for absences of up to seven days on return, and declare any sickness-related benefits and changes to them. Your employer can require a medical examination at any time, and entitlement can be limited where an examination is refused, where you caused or substantially aggravated the condition by neglect or default, or where the absence is wholly attributable to another job held for gain.
Sickness and other leave
If you fall sick while on annual leave, or are off sick when your leave falls due, you are regarded as being on sick leave as long as a fit note covers it, and you may be able to take the outstanding leave later. If you are on sick leave on a public holiday you are treated as on public holiday leave and do not get a day in lieu. Maternity leave is not treated as sick leave and does not count against sick leave entitlement. See the annual leave calculator, the maternity pay calculator and the annual leave guide.
Take-home pay and pension during sickness
The take-home figures use the 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance rates on the site, your nation's tax bands and pension contribution, and a standard tax code. They are run-rate estimates of what a week on that pay is worth; real payslips smooth tax across the year. On pension, contributions continue on the pay you actually receive, which is why the calculator shows how much less you contribute during half pay. How a period on reduced pay affects pensionable pay and CARE accrual is set by the scheme regulations, and the treatment can be more generous than counting only the reduced pay received. The premium pack shows an upper bound for how much annual pension would be at stake if only received pay counted, so you know what question to ask your administrator. Our sick pay guide and income protection guide cover planning for a long absence.
What the calculator does not model
- Employer discretion to extend sick pay or to leave pay at full rather than reducing it during the half-pay period. It shows the maximum reduction the Grey Book allows.
- The exact rolling calculation of earlier absence, which is simplified to one number of paid weeks.
- On-call averaging rules (average weekly wage over 12 weeks), and lost-earnings rules for on-call injuries on duty.
- Benefits you may claim after sick pay ends, and local attendance-management policies.
- Your real tax code, student loan and other deductions.
Frequently asked questions
How long do firefighters get full sick pay?
Under the Grey Book, a firefighter on authorised sick leave gets full pay for six months in any twelve-month period, then the employer may reduce pay by up to half for a further six months. If the illness or injury arose out of authorised duty the full-pay period is twelve months, followed by up to six months on half pay. In exceptional cases the employer has discretion to extend the period.
Do firefighters get sick pay from day one?
The Grey Book scheme sets no qualifying service period, so contractual sick pay applies from the start of employment, subject to following the notification and fit note rules. Some services have local attendance policies with review triggers, which do not change your contractual sick pay.
Is firefighter sick pay paid on top of Statutory Sick Pay?
No. The Grey Book scheme supplements SSP so that, on full pay, your SSP plus the employer top-up equals your normal contractual pay. GOV.UK gives SSP as £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. On half pay, SSP is disregarded when working out half pay unless the total would exceed normal pay.
What happens to my sick pay if I have several short absences?
Entitlement is measured on a rolling twelve-month basis. The paid absence in the twelve months before your first day of absence is deducted from your entitlement, so several short absences reduce what is left for a later, longer one. The calculator has a box for paid sickness in the previous 12 months.
Does an injury at work get more sick pay than an illness?
Yes, if it arises out of authorised duty. The entitlement is twelve months on full pay and then up to six months on half pay, compared with six and six for ordinary sickness. The two types of absence are recorded separately and do not count against each other.
When do I need to send a fit note?
A healthcare professional's statement or fit note must reach your service no later than the eighth calendar day of absence, with further notes as needed. If a note covers more than fourteen days, or more than one is needed, you must submit a final statement of fitness before returning. On returning you sign a statement giving the reasons for all absences of up to and including seven days.
What happens to my pension while I am on half pay?
Contributions are taken on the pay you actually receive, so they fall on half pay. How the period counts towards your CARE pension is a scheme-administrator question and the scheme may protect your pensionable pay during sickness, so the free calculator does not put a figure on it. The premium pack shows a worst case for you to check with your administrator.
Does the calculator work for on-call firefighters?
Only approximately. On-call staff are covered by the same scheme but full pay is worked out daily as one-seventh of average weekly wage, calculated over the previous 12 weeks excluding weeks of sickness or no pay, with the retainer disregarded in that average. Enter your average weekly wage as normal weekly pay and treat the result as a guide.
Sources and assumptions
- LGA: NJC Scheme of Conditions of Service (Grey Book, 7th edition, April 2025), Section 4 Part B, as summarised in our sick pay guide.
- GOV.UK: Statutory Sick Pay, what you'll get (£123.25 or 80% of earnings, up to 28 weeks).
- Assumptions: six months = 26 weeks, twelve = 52; normal weekly pay = basic ÷ 52.143 unless you overwrite it; half pay at the 50% maximum reduction; take-home is a PAYE run-rate estimate for 2026/27. Illustrative, not advice; your contract, payroll and HR decide.