Changes to the SSP mean that 1.3m people will get up to PS100 per week more.

In a change expected to take place next year, more than one million low-paid employees will have access to higher sick pay rates.

Workers earning less that PS123 per week will receive 80% of their weekly salary on the first day of illness. They are currently not entitled to any sick pay.

The Employment Rights Bill, when it becomes law, will allow employees to claim SSP on the first day they are sick. 1.3 million low-income workers will also have the right to receive 80% of their weekly wage.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions, this means that they could be up to PS100 better off per week than under the existing system.

SSP is being updated as part of amendments to the bill, which will be presented to Parliament this week.

In October, a consultation on SSP included a reform that removed the PS123 qualifying threshold for sick pay.

Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, stated: “For far too long sick workers had to choose between staying home and losing one day’s wages or continuing at their own peril to survive.

The new rate is fair for businesses and good for workers as part of our plan to boost rights and make work pay, while delivering our plan of change. This new rate is fair for businesses and good for workers as part of the plan we have to increase rights, make work pay and deliver our plan for change.

Unions have welcomed the new rates but are pushing to increase them. A group of 24 union leaders sent a letter to the Prime Minister in December last year claiming that employees would still only receive PS3 per hour if they took time off.

Paul Nowak said, “This is not the end of the tale.” We urge the ministers to increase the replacement rate of the lowest-earning workers beyond 80% in the future and review the statutory sick leave rate.

Small Business Owners are concerned that the changes in sick pay included in the Employment Rights Bill may make them “think about their hiring plans”

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSM), a third of its members anticipate reducing their staff due to the new bill.

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