Business Secretary Alok Sharma has refused to commit to ensuring ‘health hero’ care workers get full sick pay. At the daily coronavirus briefing, Mr Sharma was told many care workers feel they have to go to work when they’re unwell, either because of pressure from employers or because they only have access to £96 a week of Statutory Sick Pay.
A reporter from the website Left Foot Forward asked Mr Sharma whether it was a mistake for his government to brand care staff “low-skilled workers” in their immigration plan.
Mr Sharma did not answer the question. Instead, he “paid tribute” to the “selfless work that is going on across the NHS, across the social care sector, the way the whole country is coming together with this particular issue.”