Labour call for increase in sick pay

Labour’s health secretary Wes Streeting has supported calls for an increase to sick pay in light of the omicron variant.

Currently people are entitled to £96 a week, which the TUC said “presents people with impossible choices about whether to take time off to recover or go into work.”

Speaking on Twitter, Streeting said: “Higher statutory sick pay would support public health by giving workers the income protection they need to do the right thing and stay at home.”