§ Mr. WallTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many people each year serve two periods of waiting days as a result of transferring from statutory sick pay to unemployment benefit;
(2) if he will estimate the costs of introducing a linking rule between statutory sick pay and unemployment benefit; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PortilloInformation is not available of the number of people claiming unemployment benefit within eight weeks of receiving statutory sick pay. However, a rough estimate is that there may be approximately 50,000 a year. Based on this assumption the cost of a linking rule between these benefits would be about £850,000 a year.