Labour has unveiled its first big general election offering on workers’ rights with a pledge to end discrimination on sick pay facing low-paid employees.
Just 24 hours after wooing more than 120 business leaders with their economic plans, the Labour leadership is seeking to calm union concerns that they will water down their promises on workers’ rights.
The intervention on sick pay will help an estimated 1.5 million who are not covered by the rules and either have to work through illness or stay at home without financial support.
The move is part of a delicate balancing act by Sir Keir Starmer to show that he is on the side of both business and working people. His shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday promised to deliver “a government that is pro-worker and pro-business, in the knowledge that each depends upon the success of the other”.
And Ms Reeves’s plan will mean those earning less than the £123 a week earnings threshold, who are currently ineligible, will be able to claim statutory sick pay. Labour will also let workers claim the payment immediately, scrapping a four-day waiting period before they can access it.
Ahead of officially unveiling the plans on Wednesday, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Britain is stuck in a sickness doom loop. Low paid and insecure workers – most of them women – are forced to work through illness or go without financial support when sick.
“The Tories have failed to fix Britain’s broken sick pay system, and this is adding to NHS backlogs, hitting productivity and harming the working people who keep our country moving.
“Labour will be laser-focused on tackling the problem of sickness at work, strengthening statutory sick pay and scrapping the lower earnings limit.
“The New Deal for Working People is Labour’s plan to make work pay and deliver employment protections fit for a modern economy.”
It comes after Labour used the first full week of the campaign to unveil more details on how it plans to deliver on its New Deal for Working People.
In government, Labour has pledged to tackle the issues that affect working families and “turn the page on 14 years of Tory neglect”.
Ahead of the election being called, Sir Keir and senior members of his shadow cabinet had a meeting with union bosses where they were forced to commit to the workers’ rights package.
Sir Keir denied watering down policies in areas such as zero-hours contracts, parental leave and sick pay. It followed a row over reports the package would go through a consultation process with businesses, potentially delaying or limiting its impact.
The Independent has previously reported that women are more than twice as likely as men to miss out on statutory payments due to the lower earnings limit.
Labour’s plan would scrap the limit, opening access to sick pay to an estimated 1.5 million workers.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the change was long overdue and everyone should have access to sick pay.
He added: “But many low-paid workers are forced to go without sick pay when they are ill. This is a scandal and totally counterproductive.
“If people cannot afford to stay home when they’re sick, they will take their infections in to work and put others at risk.
“Strengthening sick pay is good for workers, businesses and public health.”
It comes after Ms Reeves unveiled the backing of 121 business leaders for Labour, but promised to maintain the party’s focus on “delivering for working people”.
At a speech in Derby, the shadow chancellor said: “Under Keir’s leadership, we have changed the Labour Party so that we may have the chance to change our country for the better.
“To offer a government that is pro-worker and pro-business, in the knowledge that each depends upon the success of the other.
“This Labour Party understands that business success is crucial to good jobs, and good work is crucial to successful businesses.”
Notable signatories of the letter endorsing Labour include Tory donor Sir Malcolm Walker, the founder of Iceland, who signed a similar letter supporting Conservative economic policy ahead of the 2015 general election.
Sir Malcolm’s son Richard Walker, the supermarket chain’s managing director who previously sought a Conservative seat for this election, also signed the letter.
It comes as Sir Keir and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting will use a visit to the West Midlands to promise to clear the waiting list of patients who have been waiting for more than 18 weeks, within five years.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Over 14 years the Conservatives have taken the golden inheritance left by the last Labour government and wrecked it.
“Their neglect, incompetence and underinvestment in the NHS has left millions of people waiting in pain and agony.”
He accused Rishi Sunak of having “given up on the NHS” with “no plan to turn this crisis around”.
“Patients deserve solutions not scapegoats,” Mr Streeting added.
If it wins the general election, Labour says it will initially focus on reducing treatment backlogs, currently at 7.54 million.
The party claims the figure could rise to 10 million if the Conservatives are in office for another five years.
Labour’s first step would be to create an additional 40,000 appointments, scans and operations each week during evenings and weekends.
It also vowed to double the numbers of scanners in a bid to diagnose patients earlier.
Sir Keir said: “Putting the NHS back in its feet and making it fit for the future is personal for me.
“It runs through my family like a stick of rock, which is why one of my five missions is to turn it around after 14 years of Conservative decline.
“The first step of my Labour government will be to cut NHS waiting lists, clearing the Tory backlog.”
