We HAVE to isolate at work but we don't get sick pay.

[Proudcarer100]

I work in a care home. We still have to test and isolate, if we test positive, which I totally understand. Its still the full 10 days unless we test negative on 2 consecutive days - 5 and 6, 6 and 7 etc...
However, we don't receive any sick pay apart from statutory which is if you're off for 7 consecutive days which means I miss out on lots lf money and this will leave me really short.
My dc has tested +, I'm still negative at the moment but I've now got symptoms so I think it's likely I will test + too..
I just feel so frustrated, I get minimum wage, I earn approx £300 a week but will only get £94.
I just think it's unfair as NHS staff get full sick pay.

It's disgusting and stupid. Requiring people to stay off work when they're positive without compensating them is immoral, and bound to deter people from working in the sector. We need better sick pay immediately.

Absolutely awful. So sorry OP.
Is this the policy in every care home?
Its outrageous when you know how much they charge for each resident per week.
How to show your staff how much you value them….not.

@Candleabra it’s a policy across all care homes regarding covid. As for on paying ssp- that’s exceedingly common across care homes and other sectors. To get any sick pay above ssp is very very rare these days in care/service industry jobs.

Yep. I'm a Care home manager and I've got this issue with my team. One decided not to test because they couldn't afford to not work, told me they and it was just a cold, came in anyway, and lots of service users got covid. I asked the person to test in the office and it was positive. (Of course their test could have been negative when they did it at home but I've heard off the record from other staff that it wasn't).
I can totally see why they did this-although my first duty it always to the service users-it just another way in which social care workers are screwed over.

When I first started as a support worker 21 years ago contracts from Local
Authorities to care provider organisations allowed for sick pay for staff. That was one of the first things to go when the contracts were devalued due to cuts to social care budgets. It was wrong at the time even in terms of 'normal sickness' ie staff coming in passing on flu and stomach bugs to the vulnerable but in/post pandemic it's bloody criminal.