2m low paid could qualify for sick pay
TWO million low-paid workers, including many with ongoing health conditions, could soon qualify for sick pay for the first time.
Statutory sick pay, paid by employers, is currently only available to people earning £118 or more per week.
But as part of plans to overhaul the system, a consultation will examine whether to extend it to lower earners.
Statutory sick pay is currently worth £94.25 a week for up to 28 weeks.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said: “I want Britain to be an environment where disabled people and those with health conditions can thrive, not just survive.” Matthew Fell, of the CBI, called for more support over mental health, saying: “One in four people will experience such an illness each year.”
Other proposals include offering small firms a “sick pay rebate” to reward bosses who help staff on sick leave to return.
The benefit could also become more flexible to allowed phased returns to work. Currently 44% of those off sick for a year never return to employment.
The review comes after the European Committee of Social Rights declared the UK’s sick pay measures “manifestly inadequate”. It found people were struggling to survive on 40% of the average income. Landing a fish A CLUTCH of kingfisher chicks wait for their mum to return to their riverbank nest with a treat.
The snap, by Vince Burton of North Tuddenham, Norfolk, was taken in the fens area under a special licence granted by Natural England, which limits photography to five minutes so as not to disturb the birds.