A year-long investigation looking into working conditions in the cleaning industry has found that most cleaners in the UK have no access to sick pay and are being forced to work while sick.

 

The investigation, carried out by the Centre for Progressive Change and the think tank Autonomy is covered in The Guardian newspaper today in an exclusive, It involved a year-long project listening to over 350 cleaners across the UK and also found that bullying, harassment and discrimination are a common experience for cleaners alongside low wages and insecure contracts.

 

Only one in five (21%) of cleaners are allowed to take sick days which suggests that a very large majority of cleaners are being pushed to continue working while unwell.
There were many stories of cleaners being forced by their employer to choose between going into work ill or injured or not being paid. One cleaner, said:
“They told us that if we got ill they weren’t going to pay us, or they were going to sack us.”

 

There are various reasons why cleaners are refused sick pay. These include; employers refusing to grant sick pay, part-time contracts, agency and self-employment not including sick pay as a benefit and not meeting the ‘Lower Earnings Limit’ (currently £123 a week) required to claim statutory sick pay which has to be met through a single employer, even if cleaners earn more than this.
As a result, cleaners are often forced to work while sick and they repeatedly described circumstances that pushed them to work when they were unwell. 35% of cleaners reported turning up for work when sick.

 

The Safe Sick Pay Campaign, coordinated by the Centre for Progressive Change, is calling for an increase to statutory sick pay rates, to make it available to all workers by removing the lower earnings limit, and removing the waiting period which currently means workers can only access it from day four of sickness.

 

The Conservative Government consulted on sick pay reforms in 2019 but has not yet implemented sick pay reforms. The Labour party has yet to clarify if it will back a higher weekly sick pay amount after key changes were made at the National Policy Forum, but has backed day one sick pay and removing the lower earnings limit in its New Deal for Working People.

Under the UK’s statutory sick pay system (SSP), the legal minimum that employers must pay their employees is a flat rate payment (not-tethered to an individual’s earnings) which currently stands at £109.40. This is among the lowest rates in Europe and the UK also has one of the shortest durations of payments in Europe of only 28 weeks.
Sofia Torres, a board member of the Centre for Progressive Change and a former cleaner said:

 

"I used to clean the Shard, one of the tallest office blocks in London. I was one of the unseen army of cleaners, keeping the building clean and tidy for the thousands of workers. When I suffered a back injury and had to take time off sick I got no sick pay from my employer, so I had to return to work before I was ready."

 

 
Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy, said:
“The UK has one of the least generous sick pay systems in the industrialised world.
“Millions of workers across the country are missing out on sick pay and this is making the workplace unsafe for everyone.”

 

Amanda Walters, Director of the Safe Sick Pay Campaign, said:
“The cleaning industry is in need of a clean up, despite their back breaking work, the vast majority of cleaners across the country aren't entitled to basic rights at work such as sick pay.
“When cleaners go back to work sick, they end up making more people ill. This hurts employers and our wider economy.”

Read the full report here.