Sick pay let me down when I got a cancer diagnosis at 23

Dan Berry needed a prolonged period of time off work when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – but weak sick pay protections left him struggling to get by

At 23 years old, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.

The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d need five weeks of radiotherapy treatment at a specialist centre for young people. I would have to travel 40 miles every day to the hospital to receive my treatment.

With the exhausting side effects and the time spent preparing, parking, and waiting at the hospital every day, it was impossible to continue working at my then job at a major supermarket chain, and I needed a prolonged period of time off.

You hope, in a moment like this, that a good employer will be there to catch you when you fall. Unfortunately for me and so many others, the UK’s weak sick pay protections let us down.

In my case, I had just two weeks of paid sick pay from my employer, then went on to statutory sick pay (SSP) for several months, at a rate of less that worked out less than £3 an hour for a full-time worker like me.

It was really hard. Luckily for me, my partner, family and friends rallied round and I was able to get help from charities like Young Lives vs Cancer.

For many people I’ve since met or heard about through the Safe Sick Pay campaignthings were even worse. I’ve met people who have received no sick pay at all during their treatment.

Poor sick pay also hurts people who need time off for more minor illnesses too. For shift workers, getting paid from day 4 of illness can mean losing almost a week’s pay.

That’s why I was shocked to hear that some members of the House of Lords are trying to block the day one rights to sick pay being introduced through the Employment Rights Bill.

Blocking day one rights to sick pay, and support for the very lowest earners is totally wrong. These reforms aren’t asking the world of employers; they’re simply asking employers to do the minimum to ensure people get some support to rest, recover, and get back to work safely.

In other parts of the world, including most of Europe, people already take this support for granted.

So I’m appealing, with other workers affected by inadequate sick pay, to the House of Lords to do the right thing today: pass the bill and, with it, bring in these vital steps towards a better sick pay system for millions.