The Covid-19 pandemic showed that “our sick pay system is in desperate need of reform” noted Paul Novak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), in response to a report on whether the government should reform statutory sick pay to provide more financial support to low-paid employees.
Commenting on the recent publication of the Work and Pensions Committee report, he said that it was “a disgrace that so many low-paid and insecure workers up and down the country – most of them women – have to go without financial support when sick”.
He agreed with the committee that ministers now urgently need to remove the lower earnings limit and raise the rate of sick pay. “Wider reform is also needed to remove the three days people must wait before they get any sick pay at all. Working people deserve better,” he added.
The TUC General Secretary said that it was now time for a new deal for workers – as proposed by the Labour party – which includes stronger sick pay and a ban on zero hours contracts. Analysis published by the TUC in January 2024, revealed that 1.3 million people do not earn enough to qualify for statutory sick pay, and 70% are women.
It also revealed that zero-hours contract workers are eight times more likely than those on secure contracts (30.3% compared to 3.6%) to miss out on statutory sick pay because they do not earn enough to qualify.
