Sick pay for council staff

Council employees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and support staff in maintained schools, are usually on the NJC Green Book. Its sick pay scale is the same as the NHS one: one month on full pay in your first year (plus two months on half pay once you have four months’ service), rising to six months on full pay and six months on half pay after five years. Many councils keep the national scale exactly; a few have local variations agreed with the unions.

How much sick pay you get

Service	Full pay	Half pay
During 1st year	1 month	2 months (after 4 months’ service)
During 2nd year	2 months	2 months
During 3rd year	4 months	4 months
During 4th and 5th years	5 months	5 months
After 5 years	6 months	6 months

Your allowance is not reset for each illness. When you go off sick, the council looks at the sick pay you have already received in the previous 12 months and deducts it from your allowance. A long absence one year can leave you with less cover the next.

Who is on the Green Book

The Green Book is the national agreement for local government services staff. It covers most council jobs outside teaching, the fire service and chief officers: social workers, refuse collectors, housing officers, admin staff, care workers employed by the council and many more. It also covers teaching assistants, school business managers, cleaners, cooks and other support staff in maintained schools, and many academy trusts follow it too.

Scotland is different. Scottish council staff are covered by the Scottish Joint Council scheme, which has its own sick pay terms. Check your council’s policy if you work in Scotland.

Your pay grade is on the NJC pay spine (see NJC pay spine 2026/27), but sick pay does not depend on grade. A refuse loader and a senior manager with the same service get the same number of months.

In your first months

New starters are most exposed. In your first four months there is only one month of full pay and no half pay at all. If you are still in your probation period, long or frequent sickness can also be raised as part of the review, though the council must still consider reasonable adjustments if your absence relates to a disability.

Statutory Sick Pay gives a safety net under this. Since 6 April 2026 it is paid from the first day of sickness at £123.25 a week, or 80 per cent of your average weekly earnings if that is lower. It is counted within your Green Book sick pay, not added to it, but it carries on for up to 28 weeks once your council sick pay runs out. See Statutory Sick Pay for the detail.

Term-time and part-time staff

Part-time staff get the same number of months, paid on their part-time salary. Term-time-only staff in schools have their sick pay worked out on their annualised pay, which is spread over 12 months, so sickness in the school holidays does not usually change what lands in your account. If you think a deduction during sickness is wrong, ask payroll for the calculation, because annualised pay makes these errors hard to spot.

Reporting, fit notes and absence reviews

You can self-certify for the first 7 calendar days. After that you need a fit note from a doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist. Councils usually want you to phone your manager on the first morning and keep in touch at agreed intervals.

Each council has its own absence management policy with triggers for review meetings. These are local, so the number of days or spells that leads to a formal stage varies. You can bring a trade union rep or a colleague to formal meetings. Occupational health referrals, phased returns and redeployment are all common outcomes before anything more serious.

Injury at work and pensions

The Green Book has provisions for absence caused by an accident at work, which can be treated differently when your allowance is counted. Report any workplace injury straight away so there is a record.

During sick leave on reduced pay, your Local Government Pension Scheme contributions are based on the pay you actually receive, but the LGPS has its own rules protecting your pension during sickness. If you cannot return to work at all, ill-health retirement may be possible. The LGPS guide and your pension fund can explain what applies to you. UNISON, GMB and Unite all represent council staff and can help if a sick pay dispute will not settle.