What a pain: the amount of sick leave will be increased in 2026
Currently, a sick employee can receive up to 5,673 rubles for each missed day. But soon the minimum and maximum amount of sick leave payments will be increased. In addition, social benefits related to sick leave will be extended to the self-employed. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
How the sick pay is calculated
Sick leave payments are increasing as the salary limit from which insurance premiums are calculated has increased. These contributions are used to pay for sick leave. The higher this limit, the greater the amount with which the benefit is calculated. And accordingly, the higher the payments can be for citizens with high official incomes," comments Viktor Lyashok, senior researcher at the INSAP Center of the IPEI Presidential Academy.
— The maximum value is indexed annually in proportion to the growth of average wages in the country, which makes it possible to maintain the real level of social benefits. The increase in the limit reflects the general dynamics of household income growth and ensures that insurance payments are fairly linked to economic indicators," he says.
So, according to the results of 2023 and 2024, the figure is 1.9 million and 2.225 million rubles. The sum of these values should be divided by 730 days, which results in a figure of 5,673 rubles. This is the maximum payment for each day of disability, reflected in the sick leave.
In 2026, the amount of sick leave for an employee with more than 8 years of experience and an annual salary of 2,759,000 rubles, that is, with a salary of about 230,000 rubles per month, will amount to 6,827 rubles per day," said Olga Magomedova, a researcher at the Gaidar Institute's Laboratory for the Analysis of Best International Practices.
Minimum and average
For employees with less than 6 months of work experience, sick leave is calculated based on the federal minimum wage. In 2025, this is 22,440 rubles, which means that for every day missed due to illness, you cannot charge less than 723.87 rubles.
In 2026, the federal minimum wage will be 27,093 rubles, which means that the lowest payment per day on sick leave cannot be lower than 873.97 rubles.
Employees with six months to five years of experience can expect a benefit of 60% of the average earnings for the previous two calendar years. If the work experience is more than five, but less than eight years — 80% of earnings. Workers over 8 years old can receive 100% of their earnings.
At the same time, the employer pays for the first three days on the sick leave, and the fourth and further days are paid by the SFR.
Very rare
The maximum payments of almost 5,700 rubles per day are available to a small part of the country's population, says Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the VMT Consult analytical agency.
"With a salary of 100,000 rubles, an employee on sick leave can count on 3,225 rubles for each day on sick leave," she calculated.
At the same time, self-employed Russians cannot expect to receive payments yet, she draws attention.
— This injustice will be partially eliminated in 2026. Payments on the disability certificate will be made to those who voluntarily pay monthly insurance premiums to the Social Fund," Kosareva said.
The self-employed also have the right to decide whether or not to make voluntary contributions to the Social Fund of Russia in order to earn points for a future pension.
According to Sberindex, in September 2025, the median salary in Russia was 59,849 rubles. "Therefore, in practice, the amount of sick leave for half of working Russians in 2026 will be only about 1800 rubles per day," Olga Magomedova emphasized.
Comprehensive work
The support of citizens will not be limited to an increase in the maximum and minimum amounts of sick leave. The indexation of the minimum wage and the marginal base of insurance premiums is the result of systematic government activity in the social sphere, says Yulia Makarenko, Deputy Director of the Banking Institute for Development.
The amount of payments is adjusted up every year. Indexing is being introduced for categories that were previously overlooked (for example, working pensioners, whose pensions began to be indexed in 2025 after a pause since 2016)."," she says.
The authorities also announced an increase in the maximum maternity allowance to 955,936 rubles in 2026. This is 20.3% higher than the current year (currently 794,355 rubles).
Among other initiatives, the financier highlights a proposal to increase the length of paid leave from 28 to 35 days, not only for people of pre-retirement age (as the original proposal sounded), but also for other categories of employees.
— Another example is the initiative to set off parental leave in double amount, — she lists. — From the norms already introduced, we note the rule of "One " Family mortgage " per family", which will work next year. This will allow more families to get housing on preferential terms," the expert said.
According to Yulia Makarenko, despite the budget deficit, the social sphere remains a priority in budget allocation.
Support everyone
The state encourages employers who employ veterans of their military, disabled people, single mothers and fathers, parents with many children, and those who have been released from prison, Ekaterina Kosareva recalls.
— We are talking about subsidies to stimulate hiring in the amount of three minimum wages, as well as in the amount of six minimum wages if one person with disabilities employs another. Payments are received in three stages — after the first, third and sixth months after employment. This can be a significant help for micro and small businesses that pay employees in the amount of more than two minimum wages per month," she says.
The analyst expects to expand promising recruitment incentive programs for employers.
Izvestia sent requests to the SFR, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy. A representative of the Ministry of Finance sent all questions to the Ministry of Labor. The other departments had not responded by the time the material was published.
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