§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people will be affected by the Government's decision to abolish the middle rate of statutory sick pay from April 1987, and the decision to uprate the top rate of statutory sick pay by 10 per cent.; and what is the current real value of each rate of statutory sick pay compared with its real value before the last uprating.
§ Mr. LyellIt is estimated that in a full year about 400,000 payments will be affected by the decision to merge the middle and lower rates of statutory sick pay (SSP). An estimated 4.8 million payments will be made at the standard rate.
As previous SSP rates have been uprated in line with the movement in the retail prices index since the previous increase, the current real value of each rate of SSP is the same as its real value before the last uprating, which took effect last April.