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Question for Department for Work and Pensions

UIN HL4227, tabled on 12 December 2022

To ask His Majesty's Government how the number of people earning less than the lower earnings threshold for statutory sick pay has changed over the last five years.

Answered on

21 December 2022

Information on the number of people earning less than the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), over the last five years, is not readily available and would incur a disproportionate cost. This would require significant analysis to ensure the underlying data would be robust.

As set out in the 2019 consultation, “Health is Everyone’s Business”, it was estimated that there were around 2 million employees who earned below the LEL and were therefore ineligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).