statutory sick pay in charities

[RadicalSoul]

Hi all, looking for your experiences so I can get a good picture of what the range is in the charity sector. I’ve just been offered a job with a smallish mental health charity and the contract stipulates SSP only meaning they would pay me 109 pounds a week if I was ill. I’ve never come across this before (even in two charities I worked for) and was pretty shocked, but they have made it seem like it’s standard. So my question to you lovely people: what have you seen in charities you have worked for and how big were they? Thanks a ton for sharing your experiences!

I work for a charity with about 100 members of staff. We have traditionally been on SSP only but there's been a successful campaign to change this led by staff. I can't remember how many weeks of full pay we get now - maybe two? - but it's a start.

Yes I work for a charity which does is a national charity but our local branch is sort of seperate ( hard to explain ). I only receive SSP but I think this is because I am employed on a project funded by the national lottery. Those colleagues who are actually employed by the charity direct seem to get a slightly better deal. When we all got covid at the christmas meal those who got the better deal all took a week off and I was trying to soldier on from home as I couldn't afford to just get £109 a week ! It seems really unfair. I worked for Citizens advice prior to this and again it was just SSP. To be honest the charity is struggling so much with reduced income I doubt they could afford to pay more anyway. I think SSP is paid back by the government ( I could be wrong ).

Thank you @Babyroobs and @mynameiscalypso for your messages. It’s so crazy to imagine this is the norm for some people and like you said @Babyroobs it just means those who cannot afford it will struggle through. Feels so wrong that charitable organisations then make their own employees struggle like that. I realise money is tight but if they are planning to pay your salary then they have it in their budget. Typically they aren’t going to use the saved money to pay someone else to do your job!

Sadly SSP is all that is paid by many employers, and for large companies (not sure about the smaller ones), companies are expected to fund the SSP rate but can’t claim it back from the government.

unfortunately, charities in particular seem to be a risk of less honourable employees “making the most” of “full” sick pay, and so it is becoming more common to see SSP only.

it does make things tougher for the genuine hardworking employees, I agree. Have you considered seeing whether there is a health insurance/income protection option that might cover your salary if you’re too unwell to work?

You don't really understand the third sector. There's a real mix out there of SSP and some levels of occupational sick pay. There are two reasons for this. One - actually yes, some organisations don't have a choice and must employ cover for sickness. Two - a number of funders will not allow them to pay OSP from their funds, so they can only use the funds for SSP; and that means some organisations must pay anything more from their own reserves, which they may not be able to do. You can't pay what you don't have.

I had literally just started at my place of work when a colleague passed on covid to me and I had to have 1.5 weeks off and was paid virtually nothing. Said colleague was off a similar length of time on full pay ! It was infuriating although obviously she couldn't help passing it on. I really feel for another colleague currently who will be off long term sick as had had a serious hospital admission and will only get ssp. It is a massive worry especially if single and no partner to rely on as benefits would not top it up much.

Yes this exactly. My post is funded by a funder and whilst I do think the charity keep some of that money for themselves rather then it all going to fund my post, there doesn't seem to be enough to pay full sick pay ! Fortunately I am rarely ill !! The times I have had to take time off my manager has been very apologetic about it, but it is what it is.

@Neriah that is very interesting. Thank you for sharing. My charity will never employ someone to step in for me. I think where that is different I’d understand a bit more though it still sucks for the person affected. Regarding restricted funding, that makes more sense to me. I’ll be asking them whether this is the reason. Would be interesting to understand.

@Babyroobs I’ve managed lottery Community fund funded projects (up to very recently!), and they don’t give a toss what conditions you offer staff, that’s very much up to the funded organisation (as long as you comply with the law).
What lottery don’t have is masses of flexibility, so you do need to agree reallocating resource- and recent increases in minimum wage will have meant re- budgeting no doubt.
Your charity made the decision re how it employs its project staff, and especially as in your case it would not cost any extra to pay you sick pay (and they would get the SSP back anyway), they really can’t blame lottery for that! They may well have their own board to argue with though…

Thanks - that's really interesting.

I previously managed a range of ESIF programmes where we provided grants to the third sector. We weren't allowed to fund OSP. I now manage a range of the government "replacements" for ESIF - is the same but worse, because not only can't we fund OSP but there is so much less money and flexibility that this sector can't be "creative " with what we have fit them.

@Neriah do you know what the thinking behind that is? What’s the rational of not funding OSP? Is it well this is the government sanctioned minimum so it must be fine and we don’t find additional employee benefits?

The charities I have worked for all pay sick pay. I wouldn't be prepared to take a job without it. It has always been progressive based on length of service.

For example the charity I am currently at pays SSP only in your first 6 months.employement, this incrementally rises to 3months full pay 3 months half pay after 3years service. This is a charity with around 40 staff and annual income of £2.5m.

The last charity I was at was 6 months full pay 6 months half pay with additional insurance for critical illness for a longer serious absence. Charity has around 15 staff and annual income of just under £1m.

As others have said, it really varies. A lot can depend on how the post is funded and whether there is competition with other sectors. The charity I worked for gave us 6 months sick pay but most of us were funded through government grants and could have got jobs in the NHS or local government where that would have been the norm. Other charities - especially those funded by other sources - are much less generous in their provision as they feel they have a duty to their donors to control the charity's running costs.

It's the same with redundancy and sick pay. Most of us who have ever worked for a charity can give examples where staff are treated in distinctly uncharitable ways. The reason why it's so variable is that charities range from big multi nationals to tiny local groups.

I'm a trustee and our staff get SSP. Don't agree with it though

I think what annoys me most is that my job involves being exposed to a lot of people so more risk of picking up bugs, then I am dealing with vulnerable people ( sick and elderly) so need to make sure infections are passed on. The job is also stressful at times for poor pay but mental health support for staff seems to be minimal.

This is one of the UK policies that I loathe, it's so I fair. I am so glad that in Australia there is mandatory 10 days for full time employees. And it accumulates when you remain with a company. I am up to 4 weeks which I am so relieved about, because I am due to have my gallbladder removed and I won't need to rush back to work early just because I can't afford to live on the pittance the UK legislate for.

My husband works for a small family company and recently had to take 15 weeks off after surgery
He got the SSP only
It's been VERY hard

I'm a TA I get three days a term where I'd be paid but then SSP

I work for a large charity and after 6months you get six weeks full pay and 26 weeks SSP. I had six months off for cancer treatment so it was very tough.

Thank you all so much for responding and sharing! It really helps me to paint a picture of the variance of what might be considered normal and gives me a good basis for discussion with my potential future employer. I hope they will at least listen to my thoughts and consider changing this if not now than in the future when they are better set up.

Anyone only reading this now, I’d still be very interested to hear from you!

Some charities pay less sick pay but a higher hourly rate, so worth considering how this factors in.

I recently left my job in a charity. We got full pay when off sick.

I work for a charity and we get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay. There is a qualifying period, I think you have to have been employed for more than 6 months and to have passed your probationary period. We employ nurses so the offer needs to compete with nhs t&cs. They are really on top of returning people to work when they've been off sick and staff are notified if they are close to meeting thresholds.

Previously I worked for a charity where we had 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay.

I work in accountancy and only got 5 weeks pay before going on to SSP, I don’t think it’s just a charity problem sadly.