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Reforms to SSP have been ruled out and there will be no new right to request workplace modifications.

In 2019 a consultation paper, Health is Everyone’s Business, looked at various options for reducing ill health-related job loss. Two major planks of this were:

• the possible introduction of a new right to request work(place) modifications on health grounds for those not covered by the existing duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act, and
• amending the SSP rules to enable an employee returning from sickness absence to have a flexible, phased return to work, as well as extending SSP to those earning less than the lower earnings limit

In its response, the government has decided not to pursue either of these proposals (and it’s clear that COVID-19 has influenced its thinking).

As regards the possible SSP reforms, the response says that (despite three-quarters of those responding supporting it), now ‘is not the right time’ to make such changes. To introduce such changes during the COVID-19 pandemic would have placed an ‘immediate and direct cost on employers at a time where most were struggling and could have put more jobs at risk’. Most respondents also said that a more robust approach to enforcing SSP rules should be taken. The response says that the government is developing a single enforcement body which will crack down on employers who flout the current rules.

As regards possible new right to request modifications, the response says that such a new right could be an effective way to help employees. However, ‘given the risks identified’, the government has decided not to proceed with such a change. The response identifies those risks as:

• a lack of awareness and understanding among employers and employees around their existing rights and responsibilities
• concern that introducing a new right to request work(place) modifications on health grounds risked causing greater confusion among employers and employees in what is deemed an already complex area, and
• concerns that introducing a new right to request work(place) modifications on health grounds could risk undermining existing workplace protections, in particular the duty to make reasonable adjustments

Instead the response says that steps will be taken to increase awareness and understanding of existing workplace rights and responsibilities, in particular the duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.

The consultation also canvassed whether a targeted financial incentive would help SMEs to overcome barriers to accessing occupational health (OH) support. The response says that the government will test and evaluate the impact of a subsidy for SMEs, designed to reduce the cost of accessing suitable OH.