In brief

Further to the Employment Rights Bill that was published on 10 October 2024, the government has launched a consultation on strengthening statutory sick pay. The consultation seeks views on the amount of statutory sick pay that employees earning less than the current eligibility threshold should receive as part of the amendments to the Employment Rights Bill.

Key takeaways

• The Employment Rights Bill provides for a new universal entitlement to statutory sick pay from an employee’s first day of illness. Currently, eligible employees are entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP) of GBP 116.75 a week for up to 28 weeks, but SSP usually only begins on the fourth consecutive day of illness. The changes remove this four day “waiting period”, meaning that SSP entitlement will begin from day one.
• More employees will also become eligible for SSP as the Bill removes the current eligibility threshold (i.e., that an employee must earn at least the lower earnings limit of GBP 123 per week), although the Bill provides that those paid below the present threshold may receive a lower rate of SSP at “the prescribed percentage of the employee’s normal weekly earnings”.
• The current consultation seeks views on what that prescribed percentage should be.
• The consultation will close on 4 December 2024 and the government plans to make the change through government amendment to the Employment Rights Bill.
• For more information on the key provisions of the Employment Rights Bill, please click ...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirAJBVV95cUxPM0o2NEhnT2YtZFVjSkJ4OG0w...