Adequate Sick Pay Provision

Conference believes that the coronavirus crisis highlighted the need for the protection of workers income and health through the provision of adequate sick pay provision. 

In Northern Ireland Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) has been in existence since 1983. However, Covid-19 exposed the derisory and inadequate nature of this benefit to workers and their families. Paid at £116.75 per week it represents less than 20% of average earnings (£641) in Northern Ireland. 

This is in stark contrast to other European states who pay between 70%-100% of gross wages when workers become unwell and need to recuperate. This makes the UK Statutory Sick Pay scheme the least generous in Europe. 

Furthermore, not all workers can avail of the benefit, with a Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) of £123 applied before entitlement to SSP. This has left vast swathes of the lowest paid effectively excluded from any form of income protection when they become ill. A recent TUC study revealed that 1.3million do not earn enough to qualify for statutory sick pay with 70% being women. 

It is estimated that one-third of zero-hour contract workers are not covered and a staggering 10million workers in the UK with sick pay that is either too low to meet basic living costs, or no sick pay at all. The same TUC Report highlighted that a zero-hour worker are 8 times more likely than those on secure contracts to miss out on SSP. 

As expected, existing inequalities on gender and race are accentuated, with these groups of workers overrepresented in falling through the cracks of provision. 

It is therefore welcomed that the UK Government in the Kings Speech have gave a commitment that waiting days, and the lower earnings threshold will be scrapped. 

Abolishing waiting days will directly benefit those most exposed to exploitative employment practices and provide real income protection at the time when workers need it the most. 

However, the proposed reforms do not go far enough. The provision of sick pay in the UK is the worst among comparator OECD countries, with income dropping on average by over 80% when workers become unwell!

We believe that SSP should increase from the derisory £116.75 per week and be benchmarked against the Real Living Wage (RLW) at minimum. This would uprate sick pay provision to £444 per week which reflects the equivalent of a week’s pay at the RLW currently £12.00. 

This should not be our final destination for sick pay provision but the starting point for a serious discussion on how we emulate European nations which more often than not provide sick provision based on average earnings. 

The lessons of the pandemic seem to have passed by those in Government and we must ensure that workers and their families are adequately protected now and into the future from the scourge of low pay when they are ill. 

We call on Conference to endorse the following: 

• Increase statutory sick pay provision to £444 per week to represent the equivalent of a week’s pay at the Real Living Wage.
• Remove the waiting period currently in operation and replace with payment on the first day of absence. Universal coverage for all workers. 
• Abolish the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay provision to ensure everyone is entitled to SSP. 
• The State should provide additional funds to ensure that employers can afford to pay sick pay and that all workers can be assured of coverage.