Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by WPI Economics, entitled Making Statutory Sick Pay Work, published on 12 July 2023, what assessment his Department has made of implications for his policies of that report's findings on the impact of low rates of sick pay.

No assessment has been made on the report in question.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is designed to balance providing support to the individual when they are sick, with the costs to employers of providing such support. Many employers decide to pay more, and for longer, through Occupational Sick Pay.

The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.