Until April 2026, being ill in the UK cost you money before it paid you anything. The first three days of any absence were unpaid waiting days, which meant a two-day stomach bug earned you nothing at all and gave everyone on a tight budget a strong financial reason to turn up contagious. That rule is gone. Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay runs from day one, and the earnings threshold that excluded around 1.3 million low-paid workers has been removed. If the last thing y