TUC calls for Covid inquiry to probe pandemic failings of UK sick pay

The failings of the UK’s sick pay system need to be put firmly in the spotlight when the Covid-19 public inquiry starts hearing witness evidence from next week, the TUC has said.

The union body has said the inquiry must look at how a lack of decent sick pay left the country “brutally exposed” during the pandemic.

A TUC analysis has concluded that nearly a quarter (23%) of the UK workforce had to rely on statutory sick pay (SSP) if they need to self-isolate during the pandemic.

However, the UK entered the pandemic with the lowest rate of SSP in the 38 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and millions were unable to access even what was on offer, the TUC has argued.

As a result, with SSP just £94 a week, the average worker faced a £418 drop in monthly earnings if they did have to self-isolate, it has said.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The failure to provide proper financial support was an act of self-sabotage that left millions brutally exposed to the pandemic. Many workers simply couldn’t afford to self-isolate. This pushed up infection rates, put a huge strain on our public services and ballooned the cost of test and trace.”

The Covid-19 inquiry is being led by retired Appeal Court judge Baroness Heather Hallett and has already run into a battle with the Cabinet Office over its refusal to hand over unredacted messages from former prime minister Boris Johnson and his advisers.

Nowak added: “The government could have boosted sick pay and made sure everyone could get it. But ministers chose not to. As a result the UK entered the pandemic with the most miserly rate of sick pay in the OECD. This cost us dear.

“It is vital that we learn the lessons of what went wrong – and where government austerity policies left us ill-prepared for a pandemic.”

Even though the government did eventually introduce a self-isolation support scheme that allowed people to claim a £500 lump sum if they were unable to work, the TUC has argued this was “beset with problems” and “poorly promoted”.

Freedom of information requests by the TUC have concluded that as many as six in 10 applicants were rejected.

The union body has also argued the failings of the system meant more people felt compelled to work even when they shouldn’t have been, so potentially spreading the virus as well as heightening both the risk of and numbers with long Covid.