Green Paper sets out to simplify Statutory Sick Pay

18 April:

Statutory Sick Pay may become easier to administer under proposals put forward in the Government's Green Paper on welfare reform.

Many employers (covering about 90% of employees) have their own occupational sick pay scheme, which must be at least as generous as Statutory Sick Pay. But despite this employers are still required to keep additional and complex records as though Statutory Sick Pay were payable.

The Paper proposes to make it simpler for employers to assess when entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay arises, and when the maximum period of entitlement has been reached, by abolishing:

� the requirement to link periods of sickness separated by no more than eight weeks
� the need to link together periods of sickness with a previous employer
� the need to apply the current three waiting days before an employee becomes entitled to Statutory Sick Pay
� the rules that prevent employers from paying Statutory Sick Pay where they have previously been claiming incapacity benefits; and

� the percentage threshold scheme for small employers - the money saved would be used to help small employers find ways of getting sick employees back to work quickly.

The Paper, states: "We believe this will mean a much simpler system for employers to administer, where Statutory Sick Pay becomes payable on the first day a person is sick for work and where the maximum period when Statutory Sick Pay is payable is 28 weeks from that date."

The Green Paper A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work is available from the Department for Work and Pensions can be viewed at [http://www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/welfarereform/]