TUC slams decision to end ‘day one’ access to sick pay

• Union body accuses government of leaving the country vulnerable to new variants and pandemics 
• Decision to end free tests is “crazy”, warns TUC 

The TUC has today (Monday) slammed the government’s decision to scrap day one access to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

From the end of March workers suffering from coronavirus will have to wait until their fourth day of sickness before they can get SSP.

The TUC says the decision will hit working people across the economy – with 7.8 million workers relying on SSP when they fall ill.

The union body is also furious that the government has taken no action to:

• Properly boost the level of sick pay in Britain which is currently one of the lowest in Europe.
• Remove the lower earnings threshold for SSP which is currently excluding around two million workers from receiving any sick pay at all.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Nobody should have to wait till their fourth day of being sick to receive support.

“The government is creating needless hardship and taking a sledgehammer to public health.

“The failure to provide decent sick pay to all – from the first day of illness – is reckless and self-defeating.

“If people can’t afford to stay home when they’re sick, they will take their infections into work.

“Ministers’ inability to grasp this fact will leave the UK vulnerable to future variants and pandemics.”

Commenting on the decision to scrap free tests from April 1st, Frances added:

“Ministers have been warned again and again by unions, businesses and public health experts not to scrap free Covid tests. But they have ignored these pleas.

“Charging for Covid tests in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is a crazy decision.

“This will disproportionately affect low-income workers and those on the frontline.”