Sick pay in Britain and Ireland lags far behind most European nations.
Research collated by Ben Harrow at Vouchercloud, the Bristol-based money-saving mobile app platform has revealed that Norway, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Belgium pay out one hundred per cent of a worker’s wages during a week or a month of sick leave.
Malta and Croatia also pay out 100%, despite having far lower average wages.
Due to a combination of long “waiting periods” and lower national wages, Ireland, Finland, the UK, Estonia and Slovakia are paying £51 and below for a week of sick leave. Finland and Ireland pay out nothing for a week of sick leave, due to extended “waiting periods”.
With the average payout for a week of sick leave across Europe sitting at £245, the UK’s £35.96 is one of the lowest — and with a slightly healthier £305.71 monthly payment still far below the £1,034 average, a strong average salary across the UK means nothing in terms of sick pay.
The average worker across Europe receives 65% of their salary as pay during a week of sick leave – in the UK, a worker is paid less than 9% of a typical week’s salary. That increases to a slightly healthier 18% when a month of sick leave is considered, but the proportion is still far below the European average (70% of your typical wage across a month of sick leave).