Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) 'waiting days' retained

Following a consultation period which took place earlier this year, the Welfare Reform Bill has now been published. To the relief of a number of industry bodies the Bill has not removed the three-day 'waiting period' before an employee is entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), as was originally proposed in the Welfare Reform Green Paper.

There had been concern that scrapping the waiting days and giving all employees the entitlement to SSP from the first day of absence would encourage, rather than deter, short-term sickness absences. It would also run contrary to the government's stated aim of simplifying absence management for businesses. It would appear that this legitimate concern has now been recognised.