How many contractors have remarked to me “but without being employed I receive no holiday pay or sick pay”?
I have spent some years bemoaning the SSP which currently stands at £95.85 per week, my reply would be to invest in a policy to assist you to survive during any illness or accident, before resorting to the antics of a Church Mouse! However if the Chancellor wants us all on a Payroll, he had better think long and hard, the SSP dates back to legislation formed in 1883 and has risen in very small increments to arrive at just shy of £95.00 pw in 2020. Given the present crisis even the USA, a country of devout independence and private health for everyone, has during the Covid-19 pandemic, offered two weeks pay to everyone who is isolating or recovering from Covid symptoms, paid at 100% of their regular wage; Slovenia increased it benefits from 80-90% of a workers normal wage. I could go on and on with Canada and New Zealand offering $500 and $585 respectively for recovering or isolating workers.
Did you also know that any worker earning less than £120.00 per week is not entitled to any SSP in the UK! Asking someone to self isolate for two weeks on £95.00 when they are earning £400.00 pw will not bring derision of the parsimonious SSP, they will just keep on working! There lies the problem, if you can’t afford to stay off work it matters little how much the government applaud the Great British Fighting Spirit, they have missed an opportunity to stem the pandemic.
We have worked long into the night processing Furlough claims assisting with SEISS claims and underpinning CBIL and BBL loans for clients who simply can’t stop working, Blue Sky thinking should have given assistance to those unable to work through the SSP, it was already in place!
Rant over must be my age, or is it my experience shining through?
