• Be aware of the costs you need to pay for and costs you do not

For example – you may not need to pay for all of the bank holidays. Employees on long term sick leave are only entitled to be paid for bank holidays for the first 26 weeks of leave. An employee out sick for two years in not entitled to bank holiday pay for two years, only pay for the bank holidays that occur in the first 26 weeks of sick leave.

• Inform yourself of annual leave entitlements

Employees can accrue statutory annual leave during periods of certified sick leave. However, the entitlement of workers who are on long-term sick leave will be capped; leave will be subject to a maximum “carry-over” period of up to 15 months from the end of the statutory leave year in which it accrued.

• Check if your employee has a medical cert for statutory sick leave pay

The statutory sick leave scheme came into effect in January 2023 and employees are now entitled to statutory sick leave of three days for this year. Before paying your employee for sick leave, check that they have worked for you for at least 13 continuous weeks before they are sick and they have medical cert. If they qualify, the employer must pay 70% of their normal pay, up to a maximum €110 a day.