questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraphs 7.2 to 7.4 of her Department’s publication entitled Final stage impact assessment: Improve access to Statutory Sick Pay by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, published on 21 October 2024, what estimate she has made of the proportion of sickness absences that last at least four weeks; and what average length of sickness absence was estimated to calculate the annual cost of Statutory Sick Pay for businesses.
answerText: There is no administrative data collected or recorded when an employee takes a sickness absence. The best evidence available uses findings from the Employee Survey (Employee research Phase 2: Sickness absence and return to work. Quantitative and qualitati...
heading: Sick Leave and Statutory Sick Pay