Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to provide social care workers with full sick pay; what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on providing full sick pay for social care workers; and if she will make a statement.

We want to ensure that social care workers who are unwell or self-isolating because of Covid-19 do not lose out financially because they are doing the right thing. In May, we announced an Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund, to be used on measures such as helping maintain the normal wages of social care staff who may need to self-isolate. This has now been extended until March 2021, meaning we have now ring-fenced over £1.1bn to support social care providers.

The Infection Control Fund and Test and Trace Support Payment are available to staff who are off work due to illnesses or self-isolation relating to coronavirus. This is on top of measures that allow the payment of Statutory Sick Pay from the first qualifying day of sickness or self-isolation.

For other sickness absences not relating to coronavirus, employees may be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay, which is paid from the fourth qualifying day. Eligibility conditions apply.