含羞草视频 contribution to UK Parliament Work and Pension Committee's Statutory sick pay Inquiry

Details

Committee: Work and Pensions Committee

Inquiry: Statutory sick pay

Publication date: 10 January 2024

含羞草视频 researchers: Centre for Research in Social Policy

Remit of Inquiry

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the basic minimum statutory payment an employee is entitled to for periods where they are unable to work because of illness. A person is eligible for SSP from the fourth day they are off sick. To be eligible for SSP a person must be classed as an employee and earn an average of at least £123 per week (the lower earnings limit). 

In 2019, the Government published Health is everyone’s business, a consultation on proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss.

In July 2021 the Government published its consultation outcome which concluded that the consultation posed “important questions on the future of SSP which require further consideration” and it was “not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system”.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee is conducting an inquiry looking into the current effectiveness of SSP in supporting claimants and if SSP should be reformed to better enable a recipient’s recovery and return to work.

Summary of 含羞草视频 contribution

The Centre’s annual MIS calculation, which sets out the weekly budget needed by households to maintain a socially acceptable standard of living in the UK, has been applied in this submission to offer an answer to the first, third and seventh questions in the Committee’s Call for Written Evidence. The calculations here are based on both MIS budgets and SSP in 2022. Both have increased in 2023, but the level of SSP remains well below that needed for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living. For a single person living outside London that figure in 2022 was £391.98 a week.

The published submission can be viewed on the Inquiry webpage.