To think that Statutory Sick Pay is a joke?

[DelphiniumBlue]

I hope I'm wrong, but as I understand it SSP is just shy of £100 pw. That goes nowhere near covering the rent of even a small flat in London, let alone food/bills etc.
So if you are sick for more than a week or so, what do you do? Can you get benefits to top up? What happens if you can't work for a month, or 3 months?
Asking for a relative who is really worried about losing their home.

Yep, it’s a disgrace really. I don’t really want to go into my financial details but basically I’ve had to go back to work mid-treatment for cancer because I couldn’t afford to be off on sick leave anymore 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ridiculous!! Is that the first thing that you can think of? All Brits are scammers and scroungers?

I thought there was no income protection insurance due to covid?

Yep, a self-employed client who's paid in all her life was told she needs to retain as she can't do her job anymore because of injury. She'd be entitled to precisely FA. She's due to retire in 6 months, it's a joke.

It wouldn't have covered me until I was 40 because I'd never had a job that lasted 2 years - I'd always been made redundant a week before legal entitlements kicked in with every job that wasn't a long term temp role.

Then I wouldn't have been covered in the next job as they started a redundancy consultation. Then I was on yearly contracts at the next place until I threatened to walk out when they couldn't afford to have the position vacant

Even now, cover would be dubious, as I've got preexisting conditions that I am more likely to be off sick as a result of - even a broken bone, ruptured tendon or cancer could be argued by an insurer as being a result of the preexisting condition.

These days, more people are on ZHCs so are also uninsurable.

Yep DH is about to have 12 weeks off with knee surgery with just SSP. We are hoping we can get a UC top up but I’m not convinced we will end up getting anything.
We have some savings (below UC £6k though), so ‘should’ survive. I got made redundant last year and DH was covered for accident and illness by a policy I had through my benefits. When we got independent quotes for him it was just too expensive for his age and job.
Thank god we saved my redundancy for a rainy day.

I completely agree. But. What exactly do you think should be done? Simply raising levels of SSP won't help because the costs will simply be handed back to people in raised costs of services and products. So you might get better sick pay when you are off sick, but you'll pay for it every single day whether or not you are off sick. Anyone for more rises in the cost of living?

It's all very well and good deploring something. But you need to have a practical alternative. So what is it? After all, people were deploring, and equally justly, pension levels. So now you get to pay all the same taxes (and a little more for your social care bill) and then more on top for your stakeholder pension. And lucky you, you can then pay the employers contribution through increasing costs. So increasing SSP will do the same again. What is the alternative? And are you willing to pay for it?

The problem is these types of policies are not talked about in interviews and certainly aren't the kind of thing you can ask about. So you generally don't know what the sick pay or maternity pay is until you start and get shown where the policies are.

You absolutely can ask to see their benefits package - and you should, because it for a part of the wage really. Holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions, dependants leave policy including parental leave- we should ask and check them all. There shouldn’t be any reason an employer would look poorly on a candidate for asking.

YANBU

one of the things that keeps me in my current job is that thanks to a decent employer and long service I would get a year of full pay if I needed to be off sick for that long. It’s something I hope to never need to use, but as I‘m solely responsible for my rent and all bills and other costs, it’s reassuring to know it’s there. The thought of SSP only is terrifying.

It's so ludicrous it's almost funny. like petrol prices.

Seriously @DelphiniumBlue YANBU. SSP is shocking. How is ANYONE meant to live on that? I know several people who were on sick pay for 4-6 weeks, and it took them about 8 months to recover from it financially. Really set them back it did.

Yes it's crap. Everyone should get basic cover paid for by the state. Private insurance etc should be for average or above average earners who want a better level of cover. People at the bottom of the income scale often aren't in a position to pick and choose their job to make sure they have a good package.

This is one of the main reasons I'm still in my current role, been here a number of years and had a organ transplant a few years ago, thankfully my employer pays full pay from day 1 of sick leave as I was off for 7 months, no idea how I would have managed otherwise. When I went back they paid the next 5 months as a mixture of full and half pay if any further sick leave was taken and then it resets after 12 months.

SSP and other non-means-tested benefits (including job seekers) probably shouldn't exist anymore, they are a hangover from an era when benefits were a reward for paying NI. We should just have UC, which is built more around the concept of treating everyone the same, according to their needs, and not caring whether they were "deserving" because of their past contribution,

Yes it's shit.
I wouldn't take a job that didn't offer company sick pay now.
And income protection insurance is advised.

I dunno. I guess it depends on the type of person. My sick pay entitlement is 6 months' full pay, 6 months' half pay, and I've taken 2 days sick in the 6 years I've been with my employer, and that was only because I was physically unable to get to work because I was in hospital. My workplace has lower than average sickness records.

SSP @ £99.35 p/wk is higher than the standard element of UC @ £334.91 p/mth.

Primarily because the amount of abuse is staggering and in turn feeds into the issues and the costs in the system.

Ultimately, if a person chooses to accept a role with no sick pay, then they need to have a Plan B or be looking for a job with as a matter of urgency.

Invariably, if on a low income, with only ssp, they've usually already got another benefit claim open that will be adjusted to some extent bit not cover the true loss.

@MamanDeChoix

That is such bollocks. I have 5 weeks of fully paid sick leave.

I’ve taken 3 days this academic year and worked through covid as I was well enough.

Valued staff who are treated well and have job satisfaction don’t take the piss. THAT’s what needs to change - employers thinking we’re there for their convenience.