Millions of UK workers will continue to receive “unliveable” sick pay despite upcoming changes to employment law, campaigners have warned.
The Employment Rights Bill, due for a parliamentary vote next week, will still leave 8.3 million contracted workers with statutory sick pay equivalent to as little as £3 per hour when ill.
The fixed rate of just £116.75 per week falls far short of minimum wage levels, The Independent has revealed.
Experts say the current system leaves those with serious illnesses struggling financially at a time when they should be focusing on recovery.
This fixed rate of just £116.75 per week falls far short of minimum wage levels
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Currently, around one in four workers in the UK – approximately 7 million people – are only entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) instead of enhanced sick pay from their employers.
SSP amounts to a fixed rate of just £116.75 per week, or £467 per month. For someone working 35 hours per week, this equates to just £3.33 per hour.
Those working closer to 40 hours receive even less – around £2.91 per hour. This rate will increase slightly to £118.75 per week from April, but will still fall behind inflation levels.
Analysis by the Compensation Experts found the UK ranked 40th out of 42 European countries for statutory sick pay rates paid by employers.
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The UK’s statutory sick pay is just over a quarter of the minimum weekly wage for a full-time worker. This represents only a third of the take-home minimum pay of £378.50.
In contrast, almost all European countries require employers to cover more than 50 per cent of existing salary during sick leave.
Iceland, Norway and Luxembourg provide 100 per cent salary coverage for sick leave.
The UK’s statutory sick pay duration of 28 weeks is also lower than most other European countries.
Danny Hine-Berry, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022, experienced firsthand the financial strain of inadequate sick pay.
When he fell ill, he received just £96 per week – less than a third of his normal income.
“It left me in a lot of financial difficulty. And when you’re going through something like that, you should be able to focus on getting better. But instead, I had kind of all these worries and stress about money on top of my physical health problems,” he told The Independent.
Despite working in retail for six years, he received full pay for only two weeks.
When Hine-Berry fell ill, he received just £96 per week – less than a third of his normal income
“It affected my mental health quite badly,” he added.
Alan Barton was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2023 and took three months off for operations on a tumour.
He later discovered his condition was terminal. The statutory sick pay he received amounted to just a fifth of his normal monthly income as an engineer.
“There were definitely times we were having to count pennies,” he said. This financial pressure became an additional source of stress during his treatment.
An analysis by Loughborough University, the Safe Sick Pay campaign, and The Independent found that workers without full sick pay are concentrated in areas with higher levels of deprivation.
The Government’s Employment Rights Bill will extend sick pay to workers earning under £123 a week from day one of their illness.
Staff will receive 80 per cent of their average weekly earnings or £116.75 statutory sick pay, whichever is lowest.
This change will make an additional 1.3 million people eligible for statutory sick pay.
The UK’s statutory sick pay duration of 28 weeks is also lower than most other European countries
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A Government spokesman said: “We want to ensure the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it the most. That’s why for the first time we will deliver statutory sick pay for up to 1.3 million of the lowest earners who previously received nothing.”
Dr Matt Padley from Loughborough University warns that the current rate of statutory sick pay is “not enough to live on”.
“Anyone having to rely on SSP for any length of time is likely to see a substantial drop in their income, and if they are unable to return to work for several months, the gap between income and what’s needed to live with dignity will grow,” he told The Independent.
The social policy researcher added that workers may feel forced to return to work prematurely.
“Faced with this reality, workers may have little choice but to return to work sooner than is healthy, with potentially longer-term impacts on their health,” Padely said.