Portugal news, in English, every morning. Free.

Subscribe

The Portugal Brief
Subscribe
Guides

Claiming Sick Pay in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

Who gets sick pay from Social Security, how much it pays, when payment starts, the doctor's sick note, and the rules you must follow while off work.

The Portugal Brief 8 min read

Claiming Sick Pay in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You are an employee, a domestic worker, or self-employed, and you pay social security in Portugal.
  • You are ill, cannot work, and want to know what Social Security will pay you.
  • You have a sick note from a doctor, or expect to get one.

Not for you if: you were hurt at work or on your way to work. Read Claiming for a Work Accident in Portugal instead.

If you pay social security and a doctor certifies that you cannot work, Social Security (Segurança Social) pays you sick pay (subsídio de doença). Your employer does not pay it.

You need six months of contributions. Employees are paid from the fourth day off, at 55% of their average pay for the first 30 days. The rate rises the longer you are ill. The doctor sends your sick note to Social Security electronically, so in most cases you do not need to apply. Sick pay is not declared on your income tax return.

Who can get sick pay

You can get sick pay if you pay into the Portuguese social security system as:

  • an employee (trabalhador por conta de outrem);
  • a self-employed worker (trabalhador independente);
  • a domestic worker, such as a cleaner or carer employed by a household;
  • a person in voluntary social insurance, but only if you are a seafarer on a foreign ship or a research grant holder.

Some special cases also qualify, such as people in pre-retirement who still work and pay contributions. Bank staff who were moved into the general system in 2011 are covered by their sector's collective agreement instead.

The three conditions

You must meet all of these on the day you stop work:

  1. A sick note. A doctor issues a temporary incapacity certificate (Certificado de Incapacidade Temporária, or CIT). It can come from a public health centre, a hospital, an emergency service, or a recognised private or social provider.
  2. Six months of contributions. You must have worked and paid contributions for six months, in a row or not. Contributions to another national or foreign social protection system that pays sick benefit also count. The month you fall ill counts if you worked and paid for at least one day in it.
  3. Twelve days of work. Employees must have worked at least 12 days in the four months before the month before your sick leave starts. You do not need the 12 days if your new sick leave starts within 60 days of the end of the last one.

If you are self-employed, your contributions must be up to date. If you owe Social Security contributions up to the end of the third month before you fall ill, payment stops until you pay.

If you go six months in a row without contributions, the clock resets. You then need six new months of contributions before you can claim again.

How much you are paid

Sick pay is a percentage of your reference pay (remuneração de referência). This is your average daily pay, worked out from the salaries registered with Social Security.

How long you have been illYou receive
Up to 30 days55% of reference pay
Days 31 to 9060%
Days 91 to 36570%
More than 365 days75%

In the 55% and 60% bands, you get an extra 5% if any of these apply:

  • your reference pay is €500 a month or less;
  • your household has three or more children up to age 16 (or up to 24 if they receive child benefit);
  • your household includes a child who receives the disability supplement of child benefit.

Two limits apply. Sick pay cannot be less than €9.20 a day, which is 30% of the €920 minimum wage. If your reference pay is below €9.20 a day, you receive your reference pay. Sick pay also cannot be more than your net reference pay, after social security and income tax.

If you have tuberculosis, the rate is 80% of reference pay with up to two dependants, and 100% with more than two.

How reference pay is worked out

Social Security uses the salaries registered for you. Holiday pay and Christmas pay are left out.

  1. Take the eight months before the month your sick leave starts.
  2. Use the six oldest of those eight months.
  3. Add up the salaries for those six months.
  4. Divide by 180 (six months of 30 days).

Example. Your sick leave starts in April. The eight months before run from August to March. Social Security uses August to January. If you earned €1,500 a month, the total is €9,000. Your reference pay is €9,000 ÷ 180 = €50 a day. At 55%, you get €27.50 a day.

If you have fewer than six months of contributions in Portugal but qualify thanks to another country's system, the rule is different. Social Security adds up the salaries registered in Portugal before your sick leave. It then divides by 30 times the number of months with salary.

You can see your registered salaries in Segurança Social Direta, under Trabalho, then Remunerações e contribuições, then Carreira contributiva.

When payment starts

The first days of each new sick leave are a waiting period and are not paid.

Your situationPaid from
EmployeeDay 4 (3 waiting days)
Self-employedDay 11 (10 waiting days)
Seafarers and research grant holders in voluntary social insuranceDay 31 (30 waiting days)

You are paid from day 1, with no waiting days, if:

  • you are admitted to hospital or have day surgery;
  • you have tuberculosis;
  • your illness starts while you receive parental benefit and goes on after it ends.

A hospital stay removes the waiting days, but it does not change the rate. You still receive 55% for the first 30 days.

Example. You are an employee, earn €1,500 a month, and are off sick for 14 days. Days 1 to 3 are not paid. Days 4 to 14 are 11 days at €27.50, so you receive €302.50.

The sick note and the self-declaration

The doctor's sick note (CIT)

The health service sends the sick note to Social Security electronically. Your claim is processed automatically. You do not need to fill in a form.

A paper sick note is accepted only in exceptional cases, with a statement from the health service explaining why. If you get one, deliver it to Social Security within five working days. If you are late, you do not lose sick pay, but payment starts from the day you deliver it, minus the waiting days.

If your illness continues, your doctor issues an extension (prorrogação). Your days off count as one continuous sick leave.

The self-declaration of illness

For a short illness, you can sign a self-declaration of illness (autodeclaração de doença) through the SNS 24 digital service. It covers up to three days in a row, at most twice a year. It justifies your absence to your employer.

The self-declaration does not give you sick pay. But if a doctor's sick note follows straight after it, or overlaps with it, the self-declared days count toward your waiting days.

Telling your employer

Social Security pays you, but you must still tell your employer you are absent.

  • Tell your employer as soon as possible. If you know about an absence in advance, the law asks for five days' notice.
  • Your employer can ask for proof within 15 days of your message. Proof can be a hospital or health centre statement, the SNS 24 self-declaration, or a medical certificate.
  • If you do not give notice or proof, the absence can count as unjustified.

Your employer does not pay your salary for sick days covered by Social Security. Some collective agreements pay more, so check yours.

Rules while you are off sick

While you receive sick pay, you must:

  • stay at home, except for medical treatment, or between 11:00 and 15:00 and between 18:00 and 21:00 if your doctor authorises it on the sick note;
  • attend any medical check called by the incapacity checking service (Serviço de Verificação de Incapacidades);
  • tell Social Security within five working days if you change address, start any work (even unpaid), or receive a pension or compensation.

You lose sick pay if you work during sick leave, even unpaid. You also lose it if you leave home outside the allowed hours without a reason, or miss a medical check. If you feel well enough to go back early, tell Social Security online under Doença, then Cuidados na doença, then Comunicar regresso, or use form GIT 69.

How long sick pay lasts

Your situationMaximum
Employee, seafarer1,095 days
Self-employed, research grant holder365 days
TuberculosisNo limit

If two sick leaves are less than 60 days apart, their days are added together toward the maximum. After more than 60 days, a new count starts. Days on parental or adoption benefit do not count toward the maximum.

When you reach the maximum, you need six new months of contributions to claim again. If your illness continues, ask Social Security about a disability pension. See Claiming a Disability Pension in Portugal.

Special situations

  • Caring for a sick relative. A sick note to care for a parent, spouse, partner, or sibling only justifies your absence at work. Social Security pays nothing for it. Caring for a sick child is covered by a separate parental benefit; see Child Benefits and Parental Leave in Portugal.
  • Pregnancy. A high-risk pregnancy is covered by a separate parental benefit for clinical risk, not by sick pay. See Having a Baby in Portugal.
  • Losing your job while off sick. Sick pay continues. If your sick leave lasts more than 30 days after the job ends, tell Social Security so the checking service can assess you. This pauses the 90-day deadline to claim unemployment benefit.
  • Falling ill abroad. In the EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, or Switzerland, ask the local doctor for a certificate showing how long you cannot work. Send it to a Social Security district centre within five days, with your NISS. Employees must also tell their employer. Outside these countries, the certificate must be authenticated by the Portuguese consulate, unless an agreement applies (Brazil, Cape Verde, Morocco, and Tunisia).
  • Illness caused by someone else. If another person is responsible, for example in a road accident, their insurer should pay. Social Security can pay sick pay meanwhile and then claim it back.
  • Holiday and Christmas pay. If you lose part of these because of sick leave, you can claim a compensatory benefit with form RP 5003.

Getting paid

Social Security pays by bank transfer or by postal order. To add or change your bank account (IBAN), log in to Segurança Social Direta and go to Perfil, then Conta bancária. Or hand in form MG 14 at a Social Security office with a bank document showing your name as account holder.

For questions about your claim, call the Social Security line on 210 545 400 or 300 502 502, on working days from 09:00 to 18:00. If you do not yet have a social security number, read Getting a Social Security Number (NISS) in Portugal.

Tax on sick pay

Sick pay from Social Security is not declared on your income tax (IRS) return. Social Security says so in its official guide to sick pay.

This guide is general information, not legal or medical advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

Read next