Unions call for rise in statutory sick pay

A group of 24 union leaders has written to the prime minister urging the government to go further with its plans to reform statutory sick pay (SSP).

The Employment Rights Bill will give employees the right to claim SSP from their first day of being sick, and is scheduled to rise by £2 a week in April to £118.75.

The union leaders claim the government has not gone far enough, that it has not honoured its manifesto commitment to strengthen sick pay, and that workers are going into debt for being ill.

The campaign has been coordinated by the Safe Sick Pay campaign, an alliance of more than 150 charities, unions and employers. The letter has been signed by 24 general secretaries of unions including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the Communication Workers Union.

The unions welcome plans to make people eligible for SSP from day one, but say that the current rate will leave employees on just under £3 an hour if they take time off work.

Professor Phil Banfield, BMA chair of council, said: “Moving onto SSP often means a huge drop in income for many people, forcing them to go back to work before they are fit to do so – like the many doctors living with Long Covid.

“All of this contributes to further physical or mental ill health, more sick leave, which leaves the health service without even more of the staff it desperately needs.”

Professor Banfield said that increasing SSP would make sure that people have time to fully recover before they return to work, “without worrying about whether they can afford to buy food or turn the heating on, which in itself leads to worsening sickness levels.”

Sarah Woolley, general secretary of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, said workers in the food industry were having to make “impossible choices” to go into work while sick because they can’t afford the time off.

“The employment bill is the perfect opportunity to fix the broken statutory sick pay system. Increasing the rate it is paid at would make sure workers can recover their health, pay the bills and return to work safely,” she said.

Amanda Walters, the campaign director, said unions needed a timeline for how sick pay would be increased. “Otherwise, sick pay remains too low to be safe for workers,” she added.

The letter from unions follows a similar campaign by charities in October, who claimed the current and forthcoming rates of sick pay would push vulnerable workers into poverty.

At the same time, prime minister Keir Starmer is facing criticism from employers and business bodies that the proposed reforms in the Employment Rights Bill and tax changes announced in the budget will cost too much and could lead to job losses.

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