The Labour government have made big changes as to how people are paid when they’re all sick in the UK.
At the moment for the first 3 days you don’t get paid, and then you get statutory sick pay. This is the case unless your company has a company sick pay scheme which is not mandatory. The new changes that they have proposed, and have been accepted, are not in place just yet, but when they are, it will mean that people are going to be paid from day one.
For many people that will be great help. If you’re having surgery or you’re not well for example then you know you’re getting paid the statutory amount from day one. However many people will fancy a day off and when they take that day off at the moment they’re not paid – because they don’t get paid until day four. With the upcoming changes employees will get paid on this first day. I’ve experienced many situations where at the last minute someone falls ill on a Saturday and I know they’ve got a ticket for the football match. In other situations I’ve seen an employee falls ill on a Monday morning morning, of course often genuine but also perhaps sometimes after a heavy weekend.
I feel that this new law is going to be an encouragement to this behaviour because they’re going to get paid. As a result I really feel companies should bring more robust absence management procedures in place and as an HR consultant I can help with this. If you are concerned about this upcoming change to absent management and would like the advice of a professional and independent HR consultant, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch to see how I can help.
If you are looking for help with Absence Management for your business, then please get in touch and find out how we can help today.