Sick pay obligations for casual staff

[Flat-6]

Morning all!
Well the time is getting closer, I will have to start actually employing people soon...

I've got pretty much everything covered except for Sick Pay entitlement.

Here's the deal:
- Business: Small paintball site
- Employees: probably 6 on the books
- Hours: casual, i.e as and when bookings require staffing.
- Days of operation: 1-3 days a week

I realise they need to earn over a qualifying amount in a week, but what if they earn that one week and not again for 3 months?

So how does SSP apply to people who have no fixed hours? Someone who may work 3 days one week then not at all for the next 2, 3 weeks for example. Someone who may have only worked 2 days over the course of 2 months?
How can I tackle abuse? (i.e someone starts working then goes "sick" immediately)

Maybe I'm overthinking this but its best to expect the worst from people and then hopefully be surprised when people don't try to take advantage...!

[Shakermaker]

I think that the "week" term has to be an average for workers with flexible hours. Which means that they might work loads in one week, but it is the average over 6 weeks or 8 weeks that matters overall. If they earn more than £113 per week on average, they are entitled to SSP.

Certainly there is no sick pay for casual staff where I used to work, if you're sick, you can't work, and don't get paid as you aren't going in to work.

But that is also because many employers have policies where staff receive no pay for the first 3 days of sickness, and only then are they entitled to SSP. The fact you are operating a business which only has 3 days operation per week, it is less likely that staff will be sick across 2 weeks of work.

https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/eligibility