There is no legal maximum time you can be off sick before dismissal in the UK. No statute sets a six-month or twelve-month cliff edge. An employer can in principle dismiss after a few months, or keep someone employed for three years — what determines whether a dismissal is fair is the process behind it, not the number of weeks on the clock.
The 28-week figure people cite is the limit on Statutory Sick Pay, not on employment. Running out of SSP has no automatic effect on your job. Confusing the two is the single most common misunderstanding about long-term sickness in UK workplaces.
Key Takeaways
- No statutory time limit exists on sickness absence before dismissal. Fairness is about process, not duration.
- SSP lasts up to 28 weeks at £123.25 a week for 2026/27 — a pay limit, not an employment limit.
- A fair capability dismissal needs current medical evidence, consultation, adjustments considered, and dismissal as a last resort.
- The unfair dismissal qualifying period is two years in 2026, falling to six months from 1 January 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Why Is There No Time Limit?
Because the legal question is not “how long has this person been off?” but “has the employer acted reasonably in treating incapability as a sufficient reason for dismissal?” That is a fact-specific test, and duration is only one input to it.
Two absences of identical length can produce opposite answers. Nine months off with a clear prognosis of return in week 40 and a cooperative employee is very different from nine months off with no prognosis, no engagement, and a role that cannot be covered. A tribunal weighs the length of the absence against the size of the employer, the nature of the role, the cost and disruption of cover, the medical outlook, and what the employer actually did.
Which means a small employer with one specialist role may reasonably reach the end of the road sooner than a large employer with redeployment options — and that is a legitimate distinction, not a loophole.
What Is the 28-Week SSP Limit?
Statutory Sick Pay is payable for a maximum of 28 weeks in a period of incapacity for work. For the 2026/27 tax year the rate is £123.25 a week, or 80% of average weekly earnings if that is lower (GOV.UK). From 6 April 2026 it is payable from the first qualifying day, with no waiting days, and it no longer depends on earning above the Lower Earnings Limit.
What happens at week 28:
| Week | Position |
|---|---|
| 1–28 | SSP payable, plus any company sick pay under contract |
| 28 | Employer issues form SSP1 |
| 29 onward | No SSP. The employee may claim Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit |
| Employment status | Unchanged. Still employed, still accruing annual leave |
That last row does the important work. Exhausting SSP is a pay event, not a dismissal trigger. Annual leave continues to accrue throughout — see do you accrue annual leave while on sick leave for the carry-over consequences, which by month nine are substantial, and our UK Statutory Sick Pay guide for the full eligibility rules.
What Does a Fair Long-Term Sickness Dismissal Look Like?
Five stages, in order. Skipping any one of them is where employers lose.
- Keep in contact throughout. Acas identifies losing contact with a long-term absent employee as a major mistake. Regular, agreed contact is also the evidence that consultation happened. See whether your employer can contact you during sick leave.
- Get current medical evidence. Fit notes are not enough on their own. Obtain an occupational health report, with consent, addressing the diagnosis, the prognosis, the likely return date, whether the condition is likely to be a disability, and what adjustments would help.
- Consider adjustments and alternatives seriously. Phased return, reduced hours, amended duties, working from home, equipment, redeployment to a suitable vacancy. Document each one considered and why it was or was not workable — including the ones you rejected.
- Hold a formal capability meeting. The employee must know their employment is at risk, be able to be accompanied, see the medical evidence, and have a real chance to respond and propose alternatives.
- Dismiss only as a last resort, with a right of appeal. Acas is clear that dismissal on capability grounds should be avoided where the employer can support a return.
The single most useful question a manager can ask before stage 5: if a tribunal asked me to list every alternative I considered and why each one failed, could I answer without hesitating? If not, the process is not finished.
When Is Long-Term Sickness a Disability?
Often. Under the Equality Act 2010 you are disabled if you have “a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities”. “Long-term” generally means it has lasted or is likely to last 12 months or more.
By definition, an absence approaching a year is strong evidence pointing toward that threshold — which is why occupational health should be asked the question directly rather than left to infer it.
Where the Equality Act applies, three things change:
- The employer must make reasonable adjustments before dismissal becomes a realistic option.
- Dismissal may amount to discrimination arising from disability unless the employer can justify it as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
- Discrimination claims have no qualifying service requirement and no compensation cap, so the exposure is much larger than ordinary unfair dismissal.
Does the Two-Year Rule Still Apply?
As at July 2026, yes — but the position is changing and the date matters.
The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal is two years throughout 2026. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 it reduces to six months for dismissals with an effective date of termination on or after 1 January 2027, per the government’s employment changes guidance confirming the reduction “from two years to six months”.
For anyone planning a capability process in the second half of 2026 that will conclude the following year, plan against the six-month rule, not the two-year one. And remember that the qualifying period has never applied to discrimination claims, which are available from day one.
Our guide to being dismissed for too much sick leave covers the short-term-absence version of the same process, and absence management covers the trigger and review framework that sits underneath both.
What This Means for You
Employees: engage with occupational health, be clear about your prognosis, say explicitly if you consider your condition a disability, and propose adjustments in writing. The adjustments you asked for and were refused are worth far more later than the ones you assumed your employer would think of.
Employers: stop looking for a number. There isn’t one. Build the file instead — contact log, occupational health reports, every adjustment considered with a reason, a properly run capability meeting, an appeal. A twelve-month absence dismissed on a complete file is far safer than a six-month absence dismissed on an incomplete one.
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This article is general information, not legal advice. The statutory position described is correct as at July 2026 and the unfair dismissal qualifying period changes on 1 January 2027; check GOV.UK or take advice for your specific circumstances.