28th March 2024

 

MPs on the influential Work and Pensions Select Committee said Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) was failing in its primary purpose, by not providing enough support for those who most need financial help when ill and should be increased and made more widely available. 

 

Our Director, Amanda Walters, was interviewed about our response to the Committee's report on ITV News. You can watch her interview here.

 

Reacting to the report Amanda Walters, Director of the Centre for Progressive Change, and the centre's Safe Sick Pay campaign said: 

 

We welcome some of the positive steps outlined in the Work & Pensions Committee's report on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which proposes an increased weekly sick pay amount and scrapping the lower earning limits, however, reforms to sick pay need to go further.

 

The committee recognised that the current weekly amount of sick pay is far too low for any worker relying on this income alone to survive financially and recover safely from illness. They backed our campaign proposal to make sick pay available to every worker, including the 1.5 million currently below the lower earnings limit, which would be significant steps towards addressing a sick pay system that harms workers, public health and holds back our economy.

 

However a new deal on sick pay must include sick pay from day one. Current arrangements mean workers in shift and manual occupations like cleaning, social care and hospitality are disproportionately penalised - and some are forced to work carrying infectious disease as they cannot take time off. The evidence shows that by stopping the spread of infectious diseases firms can reduce the spread of infectious disease and improve productivity. 

 

Setting sick pay at the same rate as Statutory Maternity leave, at £184.03 a week, whilst a step in the right direction, is still too low for workers relying on this income alone to survive financially and recover safely from illness. We would encourage the Government to adopt a more generous weekly amount in line with what workers need to afford essentials.

 

We urge all political parties to act on this report and go further with reforms to waiting days and the weekly sick pay amount in order to reverse the UK's poor record on sick pay, as we languish near the bottom of the OECD league table.

 

Rachel Kirby-Rider, Chief Executive at Young Lives vs Cancer, a member of the Safe Sick Pay coalition said: 

 

When a young person is diagnosed with cancer, their whole life is disrupted. Many have to stop work immediately to get the treatment they need, and treatment and its side effects can keep them off work for a long time. But while their usual income may stop, the bills don’t. Our research shows young people spend an extra £700 a month on average when facing cancer, on essential costs such as travel to hospital, food, parking, and rising bills such as heating to keep warm.

 

The last thing any young person with cancer should be worrying about when their world has been turned upside down is whether they will get the sick pay they deserve and if they can afford to keep up with their bills.

 

We believe all young people with cancer should have access to a safe sick pay system that provides sufficient financial support and supports them to stay in employment during and beyond treatment, if they want and if it's right for them.

 

You can read the Committee's full report here.