With Government mandates that the time has come to “live with Covid”, workers infected with the virus are no longer eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP) from day one of their illness. Instead, they will only receive the payment on their fourth consecutive day off work, as per the rules prior to the pandemic.
The invasion of Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis has for many overshadowed concerns about coronavirus, but as the rise of infection rates in recent weeks has shown, Covid has not gone away. And with inflation surging at an eye-watering pace, many people simply can’t afford to stay away from work.
SSP in the UK is one of the most meagre among the 38 member countries of the OECD. The weekly payment is just £96.35, and for almost two million low-paid workers who earn less than the lower earnings limit of £120 per week, it is zero.
How then are individuals and employers meant to exercise “restraint and responsibility”, as the Prime Minister puts it?
The majority of workers in the UK have always been of the habit of going into work when they’re not well. Official data show that the percentage of working hours lost to sickness absence has declined for two decades, hitting a fresh low in 2020 even as the pandemic raged.
As is ever the case, the least well-off are under the most pressure.
According to a survey by the TUC, nearly 60 per cent of employees receive full pay from their employers when off ill. However that leaves more than 30% who get SSP, or nothing at all. The former are more likely to be managers or professionals who have a financial cushion to fall back on; the latter are most likely struggling to make ends meet on low-paid jobs.
A survey at the end of last year by the CIPD found nearly two-thirds of employers agree that the SSP system is broken and needs urgent reform. In last year’s response to its consultation on health in the workplace, the Government said three-quarters of respondents were in favour of extending SSP to those earning less than the £120 minimum limit.
This was supported by small and large employers alike, yet to the exasperation of many the Government concluded that “now is not the right time” to make changes to the system.
But if not now, then when? Covid put the spotlight on SSP, but the system was dysfunctional long before the pandemic. In the absence of Government leadership, the onus is on employers to take the helm by ensuring all staff receive full pay when off ill.