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One in 12 key workers left out of sick pay

FULL statutory sick pay is being denied to hundreds of thousands of key workers who risked their lives for the public during the coronavirus pandemic.

Research by the TUC published today reveals that one in 12 key workers — 788,000 people — do not qualify for statutory sick pay (SSP) of £96 a week.

One-third receive less than the statutory level, and a quarter have to rely on the pitiful weekly £96.

The TUC says that extending sick pay protection to all workers would cost just 1 per cent of the £37 billion handed by the Tories to private-sector profiteers who carried out the government’s chaotic  coronavirus test-and-trace system.

The research identifies cleaners, retail workers, teaching assistants and care workers as the biggest groups excluded from sick pay.

The TUC is calling for sick pay reforms which would abolish the “low earnings” rule under which workers are deemed to be “not paid enough” to qualify for sick pay.

It also wants the minimum level of SSP raised to £330 a week.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Nobody should have to choose between going into work if they’re sick or should be self-isolating, or doing the right thing by staying home but facing hardship as a result. 

“But that’s the choice facing many key workers who kept the country going during the pandemic.

“Our key workers deserve the dignity, security and safety of proper sick pay and a decent pay rise too. 

“They have earned it, often in front-line jobs with much greater risk of infection than those who could work from home.”

The research shows that the cost of raising SSP to the equivalent of the real living wage for employers without an occupational sick pay scheme would be around £110 per employee per year – or just over £2 a week.

Removal of the low earnings rule would cost a maximum £150 million a year.

Ms O’Grady said: “The cost of fixing the UK’s broken sick pay system is small compared to other public health measures like test and trace. 

“Ministers must urgently make every worker eligible for statutory sick pay. And it should be worth at least as much as the real living wage.”

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