It is poorly understood which workers lack access to sick pay in England and Wales. This evidence gap has been of particular interest in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic given the relationship between presenteeism and infectious disease transmission.
Using a Virus Watch study sub-cohort of 8,874 workers, we found stark inequalities in access to paid sick leave among workers in England and Wales. Older workers, workers from certain minority ethnic backgrounds, workers in low-income households and those in working class occupations are more likely to lack access to paid sick leave.
Policymakers should consider expanding access to sick pay to mitigate transmission of Covid-19 and other infectious disease epidemics in the community as we ‘learn to live with Covid’.
This work has been extensively reported by the media:
Online: The Guardian, The Morning Star, Working Wise, People Management, HR Review, London News Time, The Big Issue
Broadcast: Sky News, Times Radio, GB News, syndicated to LBC
Print coverage: The Guardian (editorial p2); Yorkshire Post (p4); The Metro (London), Lancashire Evening Post, Blackpool Gazette, Newcastle Evening Chronicle, The Courier, Belfast Newsletter, Big Issue
Political: SNP work and pensions spokesperson calls on government to improve sick pay after ‘damning report from IPPR’; press response from Unison chief executive; press response from USDAW union; response from TUC; response shadow DWP minister Jon Ashworth; Labour’s Andy McDonald shares IPPR’s tweet
For a link to the full article please see:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.30.22270112v1