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5 J. Soc. Welfare & Fam. L. 1 (1983)

handle is hein.journals/jnlosclwl5 and id is 1 raw text is: Paying the Sick-A Healthy State* By Charles Blake Senior Lecturer in Law, Ealing College of Higher Education Comprehensive cover for loss of earnings through sickness has been a feature of the national insurance scheme since 1946. Its origin was, of course, much older than this and partial cover was introduced in 1911. It has often been pointed out that the benefit has never been taxed and that today many employees have some form of occupational sick-pay scheme. In consequence it is possible to be better off during sickness than during work. It can be argued that the sick often have greater needs than those in work. The expense of heating, diet and prescription costs may be considerable. But the familiar argument about work incentives and a desire to tax all short-term benefits have been powerful factors in producing ideas for a new form of benefit which would take account of the nature and scope of occupational schemes. Any new system might also enable public expenditure to be reduced both by a diminution in civil service members and by savings in cash payments. All these objectives are particularly attractive to the present Government. Having cut con- tributory benefits and reformed means-tested benefits upon a nil cost basis the Social Security and Housing Benefits Act 1982 takes the process further. Its main objective is to transfer the administration of short-term sickness benefit from the state to the employer. From April 1983 the employer will be responsible for the first eight weeks of statutory sick pay (S.S.P.). There will be no right to state sickness benefit during this period. The employer will be able to recover payment in full by deduction from monthly national insurance contributions. The origins of S.S.P. In April 1980 the Government published a Green Paper' outlining its proposals. The scheme then proposed was similar to the legislative structure now adopted but its financing was very different. Employers would not be compensated fully. A half-per cent. reduction in national insurance liability was to be the limit of the state's contribution. This suggestion was opposed by capital and labour alike. It would have This article is a revised version of a paper first given at the meeting in Leicester in September 1982 of the Society of Public Teachers of Law/Association of Law Teachers Welfare Law Group. I am grateful to all those who attended for robust and constructive comments as well as to the Solicitors Department of the D.H.S.S. and to Gill Howard of the Industrial Society. At the time of writing three sets of regulations had been made relating to statutory sick pay (S.S.P.). These are: The S.S.P. (General) Regulations (S.I. 1982 No. 894); The S.S.P. (Mariners. Airmen and Persons Abroad) Regulations (S.I. 1982 No. 1349); The S.S.P. (Adjudication) Regulations (S.I. 1982 No. 1400). Further regulations are due, relating to reimbursement of employers and overpayment of S.S.P. In their absence these topics are not dealt with in detail. A broad idea of their contents can be obtained from Leaflet N1227: Employers Guide to S.S.P. It is extra- ordinary that legal advice should have to be given on the basis of such general guides which presuppose the publication of the regulations. For other general comment and guidance on the Act see: Privatising Sickness Benefit' I.L.J. Nov. 1980 (Richard Jones) and 'A Guide to S.S.P. (Gill Howard for the Industrial Society). ' Income during initial sickness: a new strategy Cmnd. 7864. 1

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