UK care workers use up leave to avoid losing pay while sick with Covid

UK care workers use up leave to avoid losing pay while sick with Covid
Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent
© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Some UK care workers are having to take holiday when they are off sick with Covid or see already low wages fall to £96 per week, raising fears they may not self-isolate.
Staff on the minimum wage claim to have been offered only statutory sick pay when ill with Covid or self-isolating. This contravenes government policy that they should be paid in full to limit infection spread.
One care worker involved in an ongoing outbreak at a nursing home involving several fatalities told the Guardian the employer does not provide sick pay, so the worker and other infected colleagues had to take holiday to prevent their earnings falling. One colleague took holiday pay to maintain earnings while very ill with Covid in intensive care, the care worker said.

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