British healthcare management organisation HC-One has agreed to provide full organisational Covid-19 (Coronavirus) sick pay for all of its 27,000 employees, if they have to self-isolate or take time off during the pandemic.
Following on from talks with GMB Union, the carers’ representative, the organisation confirmed as well as providing organisational sick pay going forward, it would also backdate pay for any carers who have been diagnosed since the outbreak began.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, employees had only been eligible for the £95 weekly statutory sick pay (SSP).
Kelly Andrews, care lead at GMB, said: “This is a massive win for GMB’s carers. We have been fighting hard for full sick pay across the care sector.
“It’s is completely unrealistic for anyone to live on £95 a week, and it’s utterly unfair to force carers to make the impossible choice between feeding their families or risking the health of their colleagues and residents by coming into work sick.
“We still back pay for everyone who had to self-isolate before the testing came in. But HC-One has shown the way, GMB urges other care providers to follow.”
HC-One was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.