A coalition of unions, health and disability charities and other organisations have signed a joint letter urging the government to improve statutory sick pay (SSP) for workers.
The letter outlined four changes to SSP that it said would “make a great impact to public health, personal wellbeing and whether some people can make ends meet during the cost of living crisis”.
It called for the SSP earnings threshold to be scrapped, to make SSP payable from the first day of sickness, an increase in the amount paid to bring it into line with the real living wage, and the development of a flexible sick pay model that allows a phased return to work and income protection,
The letter said: “The pandemic highlighted some of the shortcomings of our current sick pay legislation. Currently one third of workers are only paid £99.35 a week to take time off when ill.
“Those workers are not paid for the first 3 days they are off sick. Furthermore, almost two million workers receive no sick pay because they earn below the earnings threshold of £123 per week with their employer.
“As a result, the current system incentivises workers to go into work sick as they cannot afford to take the time off. This leads to public health risks as we saw during the pandemic. It also leads to financial hardship, especially with the cost of living crisis.”
The letter stated that research from Mind revealed that two in three people with a mental health problem, who received SSP experienced financial difficulties.
More than 20 unions, including Unite, Unison, PCS, NEU, the Bakers’ Union, and the CWU, as well as the Safe Sick Pay campaign, are pushing for change.
In 2023, research from WPI Economics showed that workers on SSP receive as little as £1.10 an hour in the first week and less than £3 an hour thereafter. More than half of workers (52 percent) on SSP are living in poverty.
The research also found that introducing day one sick pay, removing the lower earnings threshold and increasing the rate of SSP to the equivalent of the NLW would boost the UK economy by up to £4.1 billion.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “PCS has long argued the case for better sick pay entitlement, particularly for our members in outsourced areas, whose access to sick pay unfairly lags behind the civil servants they work beside. It’s time for the government to listen to our concerns and address the shortcomings of current sick pay legislation.”
