To think 10 days paid sick leave a year is not very much?

[patandjess]

I’ve been offered a job that gives 10 days paid sick leave a year, then after that you’re on statutory sick pay (£109 a week as far as I can tell).

It’s a senior role in a creative industry.

Is this usual? I’ve been self-employed for a long time so forgive my ignorance. What happens if someone gets a serious illness or is signed off with e.g. stress? Do they have to live on £109 a week?

I had Covid at the beginning of the year and was ill for over a week, so that would have been about 6 days. Then a few other illnesses dotted throughout the year and there goes your 10 days.

Curious to know what other workplaces offer and whether this is usual or not.

I get 5 days a year. The reality is, many (small) businesses are struggling and can't afford more than this.
Big business/those gouging on energy prices etc are another matter.

Many years ago I worked for a temp agency and was paid hourly with timesheets and all that rigmarole. When I was ill they paid me fuck all. When I asked about sick pay they suggested I ask the place I was actually working at, even though that place (i.e their client) didn't employ me directly.

Presumably if their client had paid me something, the agency would have creamed 40% off of it like they did with everything else I earned.

Public sector - 6 months full pay 6 months half pay.

But I've seen so many staff abuse this. One who didn't want to come back to work after Mat Leave so was signed off with stress for 6 months (not genuine stress, we're friends, she was open about the fact and saw it as a "well I'm entitled to it, I might as well take advantage of it!"), and one who is nearing retirement age so has taken sick leave with a bad back, but manages to look after her 2yr old grandchild 5 days a week to save on childcare costs for her daughter etc.

It's why the public sector is on its knees. I think some sort of critical illness cover/income protection makes more sense. I've had less than 10 days off in the last 10 years, because I've been lucky with my health, but I can see that generous policies combined with ineffective management just means the system is so frequently abused.

Pretty standard in the private sector tbh

I worked in the private sector for 35 years and only once had a job like that (I left after a year). Every other private sector job I had, sick leave was on a sliding scale depending how long you'd been there, until after a year absolute maximum it would be 6 months full and 6 half.

10 days is awful, especially for a senior role which usually gets better benefits.

I’m just surprised at these charities having such a large amount of sick leave entitlement! My dh doesn’t get anything. Same as my previous private sector job. However if anyone actually needs 10 days a year I’d be concerned about their work ethics.

I agree with this, I’ve worked with numerous people who are signed off, too sick to return to work and miraculously recovered when their pay was about to drop. They weren’t able to consider a staggered return (reduced hours, full pay) at five months or even five months and two weeks but in they saunter after six months like there’s nothing wrong with them.

I get 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay.

One of the reasons I stay with public sector! I’ve never had to use it more than a few days a year, I think 10 days is the max I’ve used in a year, but it’s nice to know if I was very unwell the support is there.

I also couldn’t do without my holiday allocation! Public sector work definitely has its drawbacks but the benefits are good.

I get more, but I thinking 10 days off sick in a year is a lot. I wouldn't come close to hitting that.

Its not the norm no, I think that’s incredibly generous.

Ten days paid sick leave is definitely not “incredibly generous” by private or public sector standards. Stop being ridiculous.

You would if you got cancer, or had a stroke, or a heart attack, or developed MS, or had serious depression.

That's what proper sick pay is for - to prevent bad luck on health ruining your whole life.

Same, although I’m SE now

It was always fine here. But I barely used sick leave

Well, I think 10 days is a lot, generally, unless you have a disability or particular health needs. But paid sick leave is manager approval where I work. Eg, I had cancer twice within a year, and I had about five months off fully paid, over the various treatments. A work colleague had a stroke and she had fully paid time off too. I’m in the private sector.

6 months full pay and 6 months half pay here as well. Sickness is closely monitored though and you'd get sent to occupational health if you had a lot of sickness.

6 months full, 6 months half, then you have to return to work or go on SSP
It may be different in a probation period.

Most people don't abuse it, it is intended as a safety net.

But medical appointments would either be annual leave, or make the time up, unless maternity related, or at managers discretion for long term illness

I’d say it’s standard for the industry op is going to

I only get SSP in a professional contract role (inside IR35) on more than £50K. I'm just never off (despite having a serious disability) and if I was off 3 days in a week I'd work at least two days so it'd be a decent amount (more than SSP).

A few people in my team have disabilities and none of us are ever off sick more than a day or two at a time.

In contrast, at my ex-partner's job (same sector) they gave 6 months full sick pay and LOADS of staff were routinely off the full 6 months with 'stress'.

There's a healthy medium but it's neither of the above.

OP if you are worried about being sick for a long time could you take out an insurance policy to cover this. I used to work for a very small company that would have simply gone bust if someone took six months paid sick leave off. We had 10 days sick leave a year and yes 1 person saw in as an extension of their annual leave. Another person, who had not been sick in ages, became ill and the bosses reminded him of all the excess hours he had worked which could count as extra leave. Because he worked hard they had been fair to him.

That's what I get in financial services. Not the norm and frankly outrageous in my opinion.

Really? so you break your arm? need an operation? have a DC die or become serious ill? you get a cancer diagnosis? even a serious bout of flu could floor you for 3 weeks.

I ve worked private sector all my life and always had, as a min 6m full 6m half & when i worked in Europe, sick pay was similar or better.

What your basically saying is the employer should be able to make huge profits (which they could never make without employees) pay low wages and if you get seriously ill, its the workhouse for you.

For employers that cannot afford generous sick pay, then the state should make up the difference, UK has v low SSP compared to many other european countries.

Most people do not use much sick pay at places with generous allowances, but it is there if you need it.

I have been at my current workplace for three years and not had a day off sick.

To those asking what I’ve done when sick while self employed: well, obviously I don’t get paid. That’s one of the reasons I’m looking at becoming employed again - to have some benefits like sick pay and paid annual leave.

I work in a nursery and get no sick pay despite the fact I'm permanently ill over winter thanks to the babies generously sharing their never-ending germs with me.

In my retail evening job, I get paid about 12 weeks but it only kicks in on day 3 and I only work 2 evenings a week so rarely ever get paid it.

When I was a care worker, I never got sick pay either. When I had to self isolate due to DS having a temperature at the beginning of lockdown, I got SSP. I do think the Government could have matched the 80% furlough instead of banging their pans!

I don’t think 10 days is a lot, no, but it depends on the industry I guess. I get 6 months full pay, 6 months half, but I’ve never taken it. But I wouldn’t move to a job that offered less in case I did need it. Compared to self employed 10 days is presumably ok, ie better than nothing, so it’s all relative.

How very fraudulent of you.....