Following the release of a new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on sickness absences, there have been calls for statutory sick pay (SSP) reform.
ONS Report
The new report from the ONS found that the rate of sickness absence in the workplace reached 2.6% in 2022, up 0.4% compared to the 2.2% rate registered in 2021, and up 0.8% compared with the rate recorded for 2020 (1.8%). These are the highest rates recorded since 2004, when the sickness absence rate reached 2.7%, and this has prompted new calls for statutory sick pay reform.
New Record
185.6 million working days were lost to sickness absence in 2022 (a new record), an average of 5.7 days per worker. That compares to 149.3 million working days lost in 2021, at an average of 4.6 days per worker. This represents a year on year increase of 36.3 million working days lost, with the average in terms of days per worker increasing by 1.1 days. Compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 rates, the sickness absence rate for 2022 is up 0.7% from 1.9% in 2019 to 2.6% in 2022, whilst the number of working days lost is up 47.4 million from 138.2 million in 2019 to 185.6 million in 2022.
Reform Of Statutory Sick Pay
In a letter, MP's Robert Buckland and Priti Patel have called for reform to statutory sick pay to ensure that it is available to all those that require it, so that workers can take the time off they need to fully recover. They argue that this would avoid a situation where workers feel compelled to attend work whilst sick, end up becoming more ill as a result, thereby resulting in long term ill health which could otherwise have been avoided had they taken time off to recover at the outset.
Consultation
The letter highlights that back in July 2019, the Government conducted a consultation on statutory sick pay and ways of reducing ill-health related job loss, and that 75% of those who responded were of the view that statutory sick pay should be extended to all, including the 2 million workers who are not currently eligible for it.
Buckland and Patel state: "The government has an opportunity to grasp the nettle and take forward these popular reforms. A modest investment in supporting those affected by ill heath will save businesses money by reducing the impact and risk of longer term absence, help efforts to support recruitment, retention and employee morale, and provide a boost to our economy....These simple tweaks to the system would ensure all workers get sick pay from their employer from day one of their illness. Second, we could ensure that every worker can access at least some sick pay from their employer."
Resolution Foundation
In a new report, the Resolution Foundation has also called for reform of statutory sick pay. The report states: "too many lower earners....lack many of the things that higher earners take for granted: the lack of adequate sick pay, for example, means illness is bad for the financial, as well as physical, health of low-paid workers in a way most higher earners never experience."
Reaction
Endorsing the report from the Resolution Foundation, the general secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, added: "Nobody should be plunged into financial hardship if they become sick. But Britain has one of the most miserly sick pay rates in Europe. This is disproportionately punishing low-paid workers and leaving them without a safety net. We must fix our broken sick pay system by making statutory sick pay available from day one and raising it to the level of the real living wage. The lack of decent sick pay cost us dear during the pandemic. The government should have learned this lesson."
Calls To Increase Rate Of Statutory Sick Pay
The calls for action on reform of statutory sick pay follow previous calls back in 2022 (as we reported in a previous article), in which the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), all called upon the Government for reform. This included calls for statutory sick pay to be increased to a rate that at least matches the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage.
CIPD
In calling for statutory sick pay to be increased to at least match the National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage, the CIPD found in a survey that 62% of employers believe that the rate is currently set too low. The CIPD survey also found that 17.2% of the workforce, which equates to 5.6 million workers, do not even qualify for SSP, as they earn below the qualifying threshold (currently £123.00 per week) or are self-employed. Hence, the CIPD also call for the qualifying earnings threshold to be removed in order to widen eligibility, and for new measures to protect the self-employed
