Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the Government's proposed consultation on statutory sick pay.

As announced in ‘Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability’, we want to see a reformed Statutory Sick Pay system (SSP), which supports more flexible working, for example to support phased returns to work. We are taking forward further policy development and will bring forward a consultation on these changes, as well as any other SSP changes we identify in our wider work, before bringing forward this reform.

We are also considering Matthew Taylor’s further recommendations about SSP and how to achieve the appropriate balance of incentives and expectations are in place for employers. We will report back on preliminary work later this year.