Chesterfield workers with coronavirus 'need proper sick pay support'

Chesterfield Trades Union Council (TUC) says the threat of the virus, which has already spread to more than 60 countries and claimed more than 3,000 lives, raises important issues for working people in our community.

They say millions of people in Britain do not qualify for the basic level of statutory sick pay, which stands at £94.25 per week.

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Chesterfield TUC president James Eaden said: “It shouldn’t take the threat of a public health crisis to resolve the inequality of sick pay.

“But the threat of coronavirus shows why sick pay should be a day one right for everybody.”

Chesterfield TUC is demanding that the Government introduces emergency legislation which gives every worker the right to statutory sick pay from the first day of absence, scraps the minimum earnings threshold for statutory sick pay and ensures sick pay is paid to workers having to self-isolate.

Mr Eaden said: “Working people are obviously concerned about the potential impact of a possible epidemic on their health and wellbeing.

“Much of the initial media speculation has been about employers allowing for more ‘working from home’ which may be suitable for some workers.

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“But if you’re an NHS worker, a teacher, a care worker, work in retail, manufacturing or a myriad of other roles this is not an option.

“Many workers who don’t have occupation sick schemes which pay proper sick pay, rely on the basic SSP payment of £94.25 a week, and many low paid and zero hours contract workers have no access to Sick Pay.

“This is not just an issue of enabling working people to be able to pay the bills and feed themselves and their families, it’s also a wider public health problem if workers who might have symptoms feel they have no alternative but to go to work.”

The TUC says one-in-10 working women and almost a quarter of zero-hours contract workers do not qualify for statutory sick pay.