Research reveals that financial support of infected workers benefits everyone, but the government won’t budge
We need people who have – or might have – the coronavirus to stay at home to protect others’ lives. The government’s job is to protect their livelihoods so they’re able to do so. That’s why decent sick pay is so essential in a pandemic.
Unfortunately, the UK came into this crisis firmly at the bottom of the international statutory sick pay league table; 2 million low earners don’t qualify at all. Even those qualifying only get £96 a week, just a quarter of their earnings on average. The government recognised, but didn’t solve these problems, by ensuring people get sick pay more quickly as well as if they need to isolate but aren’t ill. A new £500 track-and-trace support payment was also introduced, but only one in eight workers qualify.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kSr6bj
