#Budget2020 measures on covid-19 are pretty thin gruel for people affected. SSP unchanged at £94/ week. For a full-time worker on minimum wage, this is a loss of income of around three quarters. Big opportunity missed to increase this and compensate business for the cost. (1/3)
At same time we estimate that ~7 million people aren't entitled to SSP - one in five workers. This just highlights how inadequate Universal Credit has become. At £73/ wk, the standard allowance is one fifth of full-time min wage. Today's budget increases it by £1.25. (2/3)
It's welcome that JCP will no longer require people with covid-19 to attend offices face to face to make a claim. But today mainly shows that our social insurance/ security system is increasingly patchy and threadbare. What happens if/ when we get a full-blown recession? (3/3)
I should add, there's a pretty compelling public health reason to fix this too, if you're worried about people working while sick. Our research shows that financial insecurity is a key driver of presenteeism (alongside cultural and organisational factors).
