Around a quarter of a million UK workers living with cancer are estimated to be struggling with covering essential costs due to inadequate statutory sick pay, charities and campaigners have said.
The letter comes the week after the Prime Minister made a major speech on proposed welfare reforms, vowing to end the "sick note culture", although he faced criticism for his "hostile rhetoric". SSP is currently set at £116.75 a week for up to 28 weeks and covers the days someone is off when they would normally have worked, except for the first three.
The letter called for a commitment from political parties to pledge to increase SSP, make it payable from the first day of sickness, abolish the earnings threshold so that part-time workers who are currently ineligible can receive some sick pay entitlement, and ensure that benefits such as Pip and UC are made available as soon as possible at the point of need.
Campaigners said research by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University calculated that people on SSP while they get cancer treatment can suffer an income loss of tens of thousands of pounds in the worst case scenarios. Amanda Walters, director of the Safe Sick Pay campaign, said: "Government reforms to ensure employers pay a higher rate of sick pay from day one wouldn't just be an act of compassion, it is good economic sense."
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