Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of increasing statutory sick pay to rates paid in other economically developed countries in order to encourage workers who need to self-isolate to do so.

The government has put in place support to help individuals to comply with public health advice on self-isolation. This includes extending Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to those who are sick or self-isolating due to coronavirus. SSP is also payable from the first day of absence, rather than the fourth, where an employee is sick or self-isolating due to coronavirus.

Alongside this we have always made sure there are no financial barriers to self-isolating, by providing the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment which has been extended until the end of March 2022.