The right time
Everyone needs fair access to leave from work, writes Asli Atay Budak
Today’s workers are being asked to do the impossible. As the nature of work evolves and people are expected to work until later in life, they must manage intense careers while juggling caregiving and the demands of everyday life, all while facing an ever-receding pension age. In this context, the increasing health issues experienced by the workforce are unsurprising.
For more than a century, the labour movement fought hard for time-off rights like annual leave and parental leave. But with the prospect of working until 71 now on the table, we must ask: are our time-off policies keeping pace with our needs across our lifetimes? Do they provide enough breaks and at the right times, and does everyone get fair access to them?
The government’s employment rights bill is a step forward, introducing day-one rights, eliminating qualifying periods for unpaid parental and paternity leave, and removing the three-day waiting period and lower earnings threshold for statutory sick pay.
Yet deeper inequalities in access to time off persist. Research from the Work Foundation found that employees earning below the UK average of £32,882 per year receive, on average, two fewer days of annual leave than those earning more. This leaves lower earners and those in insecure jobs at a disadvantage, caught in a cycle of inadequate leave and significant work pressures. This can stack up toa significant leave deficit across a lifetime.
Time-off rights are not just a ‘perk’ – they are essential. This is especially true when it comes to income protection for workers who fall ill. The UK offers one of the lowest rates of statutory sick pay in the OECD, replacing only 17 per cent of average weekly earnings. According to a recent Work Foundation survey, almost half of UK employers (47 per cent) pay only this statutory minimum, which is £116.75 a week up to 28 weeks. For people on low wages, who already often lack financial resilience, sickness brings with it a huge income cut.
The proposed removal of the lower earnings threshold for statutory sick pay is a welcome change that will help more than a million workers, but the fundamental issue remains: sick pay is simply too low to live on. The challenge, of course, lies in balancing the needs of the most vulnerable workers with the costs to employers, particularly the many small businesses that make up such a large share of our economy. Future policies must consider how to support these businesses in providing adequate leave – ensuring their workforce is supported through the hard times too.
Parental leave presents similar limitations. While the UK’s unpaid maternity leave is often praised for its length, the income replacement is low – less than 50 per cent for individuals earning £500 per week. Fathers fare even worse – our two weeks of paid paternity leave is among the lowest leave entitlement in Europe. Failing to address these problems would be a hugely missed opportunity for the government
And there is also the issue of unpaid carers. More than 10.6 million people in the UK provide unpaid care, and this number is set to rise given that over nine million people are expected to live with health conditions by 2040. Countries like Germany already offer up to ten days of paid leave at 90 per cent of income for employees with caregiving responsibilities. The UK must adopt a similar model of flexible, paid leave to support carers if we want to prevent them from leaving the workforce all together.
As the way we work continues to evolve, and as labour market challenges grow, we need to update our time-off protections to reflect these changes. Every worker, regardless of income or their contractual terms, should have access to leave entitlements that enable them to live a healthy and rich life. As a society we all stand to benefit.
Image credit: Raffaele via Wikipedia commons
