Home carers are having to choose between going to work with Covid symptoms or surviving on sick pay of just £15 a day.
A survey shows more than half of staff going into homes of the elderly, frail and vulnerable get minimal sick pay – or nothing at all – if they self-isolate.
That means many who followed the Government guidance in lockdown have stacked up bills they find hard to pay.
Care agencies say the Government did not allocate enough funds for their workers – and half of councils have not passed any funding on.
More than 50 per cent of the carers polled by Unison say their employer pays nothing above the statutory sick pay of £95.85 a week, which they can then claim back from the Government.
In May, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a £600million infection control programme to ensure sick staff were “not penalised” for staying away from work.
Yet one carer, who feared being named would put her job at risk, said: “I was off for three weeks and Covid-positive.
“But my manager said that because I didn’t get it at work, they could not pay me. She said I would just get the £15-a-day statutory.
Another carer said: “I contracted the virus at work but only received two weeks’ statutory sick pay.
“My family then all got the virus from me.”
Many care agencies are thought to struggle on shoestring budgets.
Colin Angel, director of the United Kingdom Homecare Association, claimed that half of the councils receiving Government cash to help pay for care had not passed the money on.
Branding the funding a “rushed measure”, he said: “In many cases, it hasn’t reached homecare providers.”
Unison’s Christine McAnea said: “Ministers must make it mandatory to pay care workers fairly when they are off sick.”
