§ Mr.Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of employees who have their sickness benefit made up by their employers to equal their normal wage or salary; and, of these, how many are in the public sector, and how many in the private sector.
§ Mrs. ChalkerApplying percentages obtained in a 1974 survey (the latest available), an estimated 12.8 million employees have their sickness benefit made up to full pay, or receive full pay on top of sickness benefit, when they qualify for sick pay. The extent to which "full pay" in the survey equated to "normal pay"—that is, including additional payments for overtime, bonuses, etc. and so on—is not known. Information about the proportions in the public and private sectors is not available.