Cancer patients fighting for sick pay revolution so they can recover without money worries

Julie has worked successful hospitality for 20 years. For 19 of those, she hardly had a time disconnected sick. Then past year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She was told she needed surgery, past chemo oregon radiotherapy – but rushed backmost to enactment conscionable 3 weeks aft her lumpectomy and lymph node removal, arsenic she couldn’t spend to beryllium off.

“I had to instrumentality aft 3 weeks, adjacent though I had a terrible bosom infection,” Julie, successful her 60s, from South Wales, says. “I had to deterioration gauze pads successful my bra to sorb the leakage. It took 3 weeks of back-to-back ­antibiotics to wide up my infection.”

With children to feed, Julie says statutory sick wage – past £99 a week – wasn’t capable to marque ends meet.

“I needed to wide the corruption to alteration my adjacent signifier of attraction to spell ahead,” she says. “But what other could I do? I had nary choice.”

Ahead of yesterday’s Labour ­government announcement connected ­“once-in-a-generation” changes to workers’ rights, we person been speaking to crab patients crossed the state astir Britain’s breached sick wage system.

Under existent laws, workers are not entitled to statutory sick wage (SSP) until the 4th time of their unwellness and those who gain little than £123 a week cannot assertion astatine all.

That is acceptable to alteration nether Angela Rayner’s caller Employment Rights Bill, which volition mean SSP is paid from time one.

“The reforms volition springiness caller rights to 7.4million workers reliant connected sick pay, positive a cardinal who gain beneath the limit,” the Deputy Prime Minister says.

“This authorities is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights astatine enactment for a generation, boosting wage and ­productivity with employment laws acceptable for a modern economy.”

Over the past fewer weeks, we person been proceeding from crab patients warring for a sick wage revolution. Nearly each volition payment from the caller authorities – but galore stay disquieted the ­government has not acceptable a caller complaint for sick pay.

Current rates are conscionable £116.75 a week, oregon £3 an hr for a full-time worker. The Safe Sick Pay coalition is calling for this to emergence to astatine slightest 75% of the minimum wage – oregon astir £320 a week for a full-time worker. The Work and Pensions Committee has besides ­recommended raising SSP.

“The government’s program to widen statutory sick wage and marque it payable from time 1 is precise welcome, but they need to spell further,” says Amanda Walters, manager of the Safe Sick Pay Campaign.

“The debased complaint of sick wage is fundamentally unsafe and ­jeopardises workers’ betterment from illness.”

Raising the SSP complaint would person helped Alan Barton, 65, a aesculapian instrumentality technologist from ­Eastbourne, East Sussex, who was diagnosed with cancer successful 2021. When helium became ill, helium had precocious started a caller job, truthful wasn’t entitled to institution sick pay.

After clip disconnected for surgery, helium ended up moving connected and disconnected done ­chemo and taking retired loans, with his wife, Julie, 62 – due to the fact that SSP was truthful low. His crab is present terminal, and helium is having palliative ­chemotherapy.

“It was precise hard, very, precise tiring and stressful,” helium says. “When you’re facing each this, having fiscal problems is the past happening you need. I’m 65 and I’ve worked hard each my life. Sometimes you deliberation of that saying, ‘Life sucks and past you die’.”

Dan Hine-Berry was diagnosed with lymphoma astatine conscionable 23. Months of treatment, miles from home, meant helium faced other question costs.

“When I was diagnosed with stage2 cancer, I was moving for a large ­supermarket concatenation arsenic an adjunct store manager,” Dan says. “I’d been determination six years and worked done the pandemic with them. They offered maine conscionable 2 weeks’ sick wage connected my salary, past I was connected £99 a week SSP.”

Nancy Digueno, 54, is simply a caregiver surviving successful Fulham, South West London, who was diagnosed with bosom crab successful 2020. Her NHS employer paid her successful afloat for six months, but past she was enactment connected fractional pay.

Despite undergoing surgery, ­chemotherapy and 15 rounds of ­radiotherapy, Nancy was forced to instrumentality to enactment afloat clip portion inactive successful treatment, and needed enactment from Maggie’s charity.

“It is truthful stressful anyhow and having that fiscal accent makes everything worse,” she says. “I inactive had the mean bills to pay.”

Farid Oladapo was successful the last twelvemonth of his International Politics grade erstwhile helium was diagnosed with ­embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma – a uncommon crab causing a tumour down his eye.

The 24-year-old had been moving 30-hour weeks astatine Ikea to enactment himself done assemblage – but present recovered himself needing the enactment of foundation Young Lives vs Cancer.

“I’m fortunate I person a adjacent family,” helium says. “I was a student, with nary ­dependents, and I recovered it intolerable to past connected that amount, truthful however does anyone else?”

Farid, from South Croydon, South London, is present successful remission but needs 2 hep replacements to repair harm caused by complications from his treatment. Determined to decorativeness his studies, helium completed his grade and precocious started his archetypal occupation successful finance.

“If I could alteration things, I deliberation SSP should beryllium astir fractional your salary,” helium adds, “to let radical to wage their bills.”

A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said: “No 1 should beryllium forced to take betwixt their wellness and fiscal hardship, which is wherefore we are launching a consultation connected our plans to fortify Statutory Sick Pay."

“These reforms which signifier portion of the Employment Rights Bill are a halfway portion of our ngo to amended wellness outcomes, tackle inequalities by amended supporting radical who are managing a wellness information successful enactment and raising surviving standards crossed the country.”

Workers’ rights network, Organise, says it has heard from hundreds of employees with crab and different superior illnesses who are struggling to past financially arsenic they spell done treatment.

“We person been deluged by stories similar these, it is ­absolutely heartbreaking,” says Roxana Khan- Williams, caput of UK campaigns astatine Organise.

“I can’t emphasise capable conscionable however important expanding the play magnitude of sick wage is going to beryllium to assistance workers facing crab and different superior illnesses.”

• Have you got a sick wage communicative to share?

https://www.centreforprogressivechange.org/tell-us-your-story-of-sick-pay