hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hu … wn-1519316
Drivers sticking together for one of their own. Good luck to the guy, I hope it works out for him.
85 quid a week statutory sick pay. Aren’t we all lucky to live in such an advanced and rich country? Good job he had no financial worries hindering his recovery. [emoji15]
It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a company to pay long term sick pay. It should be the state that takes a little bit of our pay and redistributes it, without syphoning any off to shareholders in insurance companies etc. Private insurance is an option but sometimes we need a kick up the bum to make the sensible choice, so how about ? uummm ? National Insurance??
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That is nice to see there all backing him, good luck to them. Its 2018 and we got companies paying £85 to employees recovering from such horrible illness’s, What a joke.
However sad a story this is, I have every sympathy for him and would like to think his company may make an exception to the rules. Unfortunately they are paying him the statutory sick pay that he is entitled to. It isn’t the company that he works for that is making these rules so little point in striking. Should be help through government agencies for this type of unfortunate sickness. Anyone one of us could face this problem at some stage in our lives, that is what critical illness insurance is for. if insurance wasn’t so expensive then more of us would be covered and cases like this would be a rarity. Having cancer or any other long term illness is devastating and part of our National insurance should cover us for this type of event. Poor man shouldn’t have to worry over money whilst dealing with his illness.
It’s high time the firms were prevented in law lying about providing sick pay - when they just do not, nor intend to.
I’m talking about “Management Discretion Sick Pay”.
That basically leaves abuse, bullying, and favoritism - endemic at the yard, and I suspect that “Anti Semetism in the Labour Party” has got nothing on THIS kind of thing going on around the country, totally ignored by the law.
Someone who’s mates with the boss, be they another manager or a “firm’s boy” driver… Want a sickie to see the cup final? - No problem. “Sick Pay Granted.”
You’re not mates with the boss? Indifferent, or just don’t know the boss socially? - Even if you’re in f…in’ hospital - you won’t get sick pay, unless some manager - ANY manager - goes out of their way to put you in for that “discretionary” sick pay.
Of course, this means really that people working there - are having illegal deductions made from their wages, when every Sickness is treated by default as unpaid sickness.
On top of all that, - the official company line to the outside world is that “SIck pay is paid” which makes it darn difficult to prove otherwise (their lie against your word?) plus the fact that it affects one’s claim for SSP because as far as the outside world is concerned. “You DO get sick pay at this firm don’t you? - They say they pay sick pay - so why are you trying to claim the external SSP?”
Finally, there is the aspect of using “Discretionary Sick Pay” as ammunition for bullying. A manager might ask you (always verbally, and off-camera…) to break the law, perform an unsafe act, or cover up a breach of regulations, or even cover up a crime - or you can go home sick, unpaid in protest. So… You comply - or you end up taking the rest of the day off, AND getting docked for that day’s pay you’ve already turned up for duty for, and maybe have worked some or most of that shift…
All in all, it’s a mess - and needs sorting out.
There should be an investigation into this way that some firms out there behave in this disgraceful manner, not just driving firms - but ANY employer, most especially the larger firms that don’t have a union presence. 
The UK gets knocked but…some european countries theres no SSP…
bristolrob:
That is nice to see there all backing him, good luck to them. Its 2018 and we got companies paying £85 to employees recovering from such horrible illness’s, What a joke.
We only pay SSP. If I get ill, I also get SSP. Though for 20 years I have paid £40.00 a month for income protection and over paid my mortgage so I can take a 3 month payment holiday.
I could change our sick pay policy, but the money would have to come from somewhere else, maybe the customers will offer to pay more, or Shell will do me a special deal on diesel. Or not.
Franglais:
85 quid a week statutory sick pay. Aren’t we all lucky to live in such an advanced and rich country? Good job he had no financial worries hindering his recovery. [emoji15]
It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a company to pay long term sick pay. It should be the state that takes a little bit of our pay and redistributes it, without syphoning any off to shareholders in insurance companies etc. Private insurance is an option but sometimes we need a kick up the bum to make the sensible choice, so how about ? uummm ? National Insurance??Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
In the Netherlands, the state do take care of those who fall I’ll, or are made redundant with no fault of their own. In the Netherlands, if you are made redundant, you receive about 90% (iirc) of your previous wages, for a limited amount of time. It goes down, but they don’t hang you out to dry like they do in Britain (lost yor job?wait six weeks to go from £500 to £78 per week).
In the Netherlands, basic tax is 36%, most peple pay 43%…
And you gave to pay for health insurance on top of that…
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Duplicate post
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I was off sick for 6 weeks or so earlier this year. As some idiot decide to jump a red light crash my car up one weekend causing me to fracture my hand. Anyway was on ssp got back to work . 1st think work did when back wanted chat see how I was etc. Then handed me a section from my work contract with a section highlighted. Stating if any employee makes any claim to an outside party for loss of earning … The company will seek to claim back any ssp payments made to the employee plus any other costs involved insured during there absence
albion:
bristolrob:
That is nice to see there all backing him, good luck to them. Its 2018 and we got companies paying £85 to employees recovering from such horrible illness’s, What a joke.We only pay SSP. If I get ill, I also get SSP. Though for 20 years I have paid £40.00 a month for income protection and over paid my mortgage so I can take a 3 month payment holiday.
I could change our sick pay policy, but the money would have to come from somewhere else, maybe the customers will offer to pay more, or Shell will do me a special deal on diesel. Or not.
Agreed, +1
I think a lot of people are getting the wires crossed here big style.
Ssp is paid by the social security just paid through you wage packet as is not paid to you by your company as sick pay. Of your off sick you do not need to make a claim for Ssp the company should deal with it all and just pay you the Ssp figure.
The only difference is where a company offers company sick pay which is an entirely different thing. If your paid company sick pay this can be at the companies discretion and can be dependant upon length of service etc etc.
As for the story it’s sad no doubt but none of us know the full ins and outs to make a full assessment of the case.
As far as I know there is no legal requirement for a company to offer sick pay of their own. That is just a bandit of working for a company that can afford to pay wages to a worker that can’t work.
Oh and I had 3 months off work when I broke my ankle a few years back.
No choice to not have time off, I got a month’s company sick pay as that’s what the company offered in the contract, after that I was only entitled to Ssp. I had to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit and even then had to pay part of my rent out of my Ssp along with paying for all the usual stuff, I had to cut back on everything as much as possible and even had to borrow money off my parents to help me out.
Same sort of situation, the only difference is rented vs owning a property.
These days people think they are entitled to everything. If you have a mortgage it’s the same as a car loan or personal loan etc. If you suddenly found your self out of work or unable to work how will you afford it?
There is insurance for everything it’s up to you if you choose to have it for these types of eventualities or not.
albion:
bristolrob:
That is nice to see there all backing him, good luck to them. Its 2018 and we got companies paying £85 to employees recovering from such horrible illness’s, What a joke.We only pay SSP. If I get ill, I also get SSP. Though for 20 years I have paid £40.00 a month for income protection and over paid my mortgage so I can take a 3 month payment holiday.
I could change our sick pay policy, but the money would have to come from somewhere else, maybe the customers will offer to pay more, or Shell will do me a special deal on diesel. Or not.
At our place we are monthly salaried. A few days on the sick makes no loss to us. On a couple of occasions drivers have been off work for weeks on full pay. Downsides? Yes. Our pay isn’t as good as Albion’s drivers enjoy. And so far, being a smallish company there hasn’t been too much “swinging the lead”, but as the company expands that’ll be more likely. If we were better paid we’d have the option of buying a good sick insurance, but human nature being what it is…younger people with families and mortgages won’t do it.
Hence a need for IMHO an increase in SSP and a modest increase in our contributions to cover it.
Vote For Higher Taxes! Yeah, that’ll work!
Classical economists say we act in our own rational best interests. Any psychologist will tell you we don’t! Half the time we don’t know what actually is best for us; half of the remaining time we see too much info, take a punt, and then defend and justify our choice against any new evidence.
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Franglais:
At our place we are monthly salaried. A few days on the sick makes no loss to us. On a couple of occasions drivers have been off work for weeks on full pay. Downsides? Yes. Our pay isn’t as good as Albion’s drivers enjoy. And so far, being a smallish company there hasn’t been too much “swinging the lead”, but as the company expands that’ll be more likely. If we were better paid we’d have the option of buying a good sick insurance, but human nature being what it is…younger people with families and mortgages won’t do it.
Hence a need for IMHO an increase in SSP and a modest increase in our contributions to cover it.
Vote For Higher Taxes! Yeah, that’ll work!
Classical economists say we act in our own rational best interests. Any psychologist will tell you we don’t! Half the time we don’t know what actually is best for us; half of the remaining time we see too much info, take a punt, and then defend and justify our choice against any new evidence.Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
I honestly think we do need higher taxes Franglais as our expectations as to what the state should provide are generally unrealistic. I think some of the reluctance to pay more is the belief that increase doesn’t translate as an improvement for people, it just become mores money that gets wasted somewhere.
I’ve had income protection since the mid 90s, when I was on less than the average wage back then.
simcor:
Oh and I had 3 months off work when I broke my ankle a few years back.No choice to not have time off, I got a month’s company sick pay as that’s what the company offered in the contract, after that I was only entitled to Ssp. I had to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit and even then had to pay part of my rent out of my Ssp along with paying for all the usual stuff, I had to cut back on everything as much as possible and even had to borrow money off my parents to help me out.
Same sort of situation, the only difference is rented vs owning a property.
These days people think they are entitled to everything. If you have a mortgage it’s the same as a car loan or personal loan etc. If you suddenly found your self out of work or unable to work how will you afford it?
There is insurance for everything it’s up to you if you choose to have it for these types of eventualities or not.
There is insurance for everything, just ask those who brought ppi who couldn’t claim on it!
I agree that insurance is a good idea and I have a policy myself.I also have some savings as I am far from sure that they won’t try and get out of paying if I ever need to claim
There’s a similarity with surveys of shoppers: ask about food for instance and most say they support British farmers and higher welfare for animals, but tend to buy cheaper offerings at the checkout. Legislate for better welfare and take away the bargain basement stuff and there’s not many complaints is there? Not many want battery hens brought back! Unrealistic promises bring discontend.
Anyway, more back on theme, aren’t the Nordic countries with higher taxes and higher social provision meant to the happiest nations?
Nanny State?
Yes please!
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Pity my crowd didn’t bother,been on 72 quid a week since October
We are all responsible or should be in protecting ourselves against suddenly losing one or both incomes whether that be through redundancy,illness or anything else.
There are plenty of insurance policies available out there for a modest amount per month that will cover your income as albion states.
I have one in place that I’m now claiming from as I have had to leave work to be a full time carer for my wife,now at 36 years old I didn’t envisage having to claim on this but I’ve paid into it for the last 10 years for that reason…the unknown,I can now concentrate on looking after my wife without having to worry about money as the policy will pay out around £1000 per month until I return to work,which will easily cover everything and then some.
Over the 10 years this policy has cost me around £3000 (£26pm) but I have already claimed £7000 from it since leaving work,The solidarity shown to the driver in the story is great but ultimately people shouldn’t rely on employers or the government to finance an individual being unable to work.
My mrs works a flexible 37.5 hr week, has 32 days plus 8 bank hols, has never started before 8 or worked after 5.30, gets just under £17 an hour and has full sick pay for 6 months, half pay for 6 months.
She thinks we are mad doing what we do.
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