Sick leave in Portugal: how the subsídio de doença is calculated in 2026

What the sick-leave benefit is

The sick-leave benefit (subsídio de doença) is the Social Security payment that replaces part of your salary while you are on sick leave, that is, unable to work because of illness¹. It is paid to employees (and, with their own rules, the self-employed) who meet the qualifying period and the professionalism index set by Social Security².

Two questions sum up what everyone wants to know: how much per day, and from which day you start receiving. Let's take each in turn.

How much: a percentage of the reference remuneration

The benefit is daily and comes from applying a percentage to the reference remuneration¹.

The reference remuneration is the total salary of the first 6 of the last 8 months before the leave, excluding the holiday and Christmas bonuses, divided by 180¹. In practice, for a stable monthly salary, that is simply:

Daily reference remuneration = monthly salary ÷ 30

For example, on a €1,200 salary the daily reference remuneration is €40.

The percentage rises with the length of the leave

The percentage applied is not fixed: it increases with duration, and each phase is paid at its own rate¹.

On a 120-day leave, for example, the first 30 days are paid at 55%, days 31 to 90 at 60% and days 91 to 120 at 70%. The calculator adds each phase and shows the total for the leave.

The waiting period: the first 3 days

For an ordinary illness, Social Security does not pay the first 3 days of the leave. The benefit only starts on the 4th day².

There are exceptions where you are paid from day 1, with no waiting period:

• Hospitalisation and day surgery (cirurgia em ambulatório).
• Tuberculosis.
• Infectious diseases with isolation ordered by the health authorities.

Note: the waiting days still count towards the duration that sets the percentage (the leave "counts" from day 1, even if those days are not paid).

The minimum, the maximum and the increase

The daily benefit has limits¹³:

• Minimum: never below €5.37 a day, which is 30% of the daily IAS (Social Support Index), set at €537.13 in 2026.
• Maximum: never above the net reference remuneration (after Social Security and IRS).

There is also an increase of 5 percentage points that lifts the 55% to 60% and the 60% to 65% when one of these applies¹:

• The reference remuneration is €500 or less.
• The household has 3 or more children up to 16 (or 24, if receiving child benefit).
• There is a child with the disability bonus of the child benefit.

Worked example

Take a €1,200 monthly salary and a 15-day ordinary-illness leave:

• Daily reference remuneration: €1,200 ÷ 30 = €40.
• Paid days: the first 3 are unpaid, leaving 12 days.
• Percentage: the whole leave is within the first 30 days, so 55%: the daily benefit is 55% of €40 = €22.
• Total for the leave: 12 days × €22 = €264.

Run the numbers with your own figures in the sick-leave allowance calculator.

What this guide does not cover

To be an honest estimate, some situations are left out:

• The self-employed, who have an 11-day waiting period (and the voluntary social insurance, a 30-day one), with their own rules.
• The IRS the benefit carries and the exact cap of the net reference remuneration, which this calculator does not compute in detail.
• The verification of incapacity and the duration limits of the leave, which depend on the medical assessment and the applicable regime.

After estimating the benefit, see also how much you would get in unemployment benefit and how your salary translates into net pay in the net salary calculator. For specific cases, always confirm on Segurança Social Direta.