Paid sick leave

Cairnpapple

Kirkmain said:

TELLIT01 said:

Kirkmain said:

Penguin_ said:

I work for a company with over 60 sites in the UK & we get unpaid sick for the first 3 days then SSP from day 4.

Wow. So do all your colleagues take out comprehensive income protection?

Many people can't afford income protection.  SSP only is certainly becoming far more common that it was for most of my working life.  My sister-in-law works for a major clothing retailer and they only get SSP.

How much is SSP nowadays? Surely not enough to cover lost income. What do regular folks do if they ever become too sick to work for months at a time (surely something that happens)?

Unfortunately, become sick -> massive loss of income -> maybe partner has to give up work to be a carer and/or DWP refuse benefits -> financial crisis is not an uncommon story amongst disabled and chronically ill people. 

I consider myself enormously lucky that a) I already had savings and a paid off house when I became disabled, b) the firm I work for had the income protection policy which I wasn't aware of until well into sickness absence on SSP, and c) I have a spouse who can work 100% from home with flexible hours.

Savvy_Sue

annabanana82 said:

The civil service has largely moved to 5 months full 5 months half pay depending on length of service. All on a rolling 12 months, however their are absence indicators that may kick in and start formal or informal action alongside your paid sick leave.

We were 3 months full and 3 months half, on a rolling basis. It meant that if you were off sick for long enough, your entitlement might change from full to half pay then to nothing (because SSP would have run out by then as well), but if you came back again and then went sick again, your entitlement might be reinstated - it all depended on exactly when you were sick within the last 12 months. Calculations used to do my head in ... 

tizerbelle

SSP currently is £109.40 per week, rising to £116.75 per week in April.

My last 3 employers only paid SSP.

Employer before that would give 1 week full pay in a rolling 12 month period.

Prior to that it was 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay but that was legacy terms from an electricity board before privatisation.  After privatisation, the terms got gradually worse for new joiners.