A quarter get no time off to get Covid vaccine

A quarter of British employers have not been giving their staff paid time off for Covid-19 vaccinations and have no plans to allow it, according to a YouGov poll for Acas.

The poll of over 2,000 senior managers found that 59% have been giving staff paid time off ad 4% have not been doing it but plan to in the future.

It also found that a quarter (26%) had not been paying full company sick pay and had no plans to do so for staff who were off sick due to vaccine effects. Half were already paying full sick pay; and 6% have not been doing it but plan to in the future.

Acas advice is that employers should support staff to get the vaccine once it is offered to them, including giving them paid time off. And it says employers could consider not counting vaccine-related time off sick as part of this absence record system.

Susan Clews, Acas Chief Executive, said: “It’s in businesses best interests to have a vaccine policy that supports staff to take time off as fully vaccinated workers are less likely to need longer periods of time off work to recover from Covid-19.”

Meanwhile, the TUC has called for the Government to create a permanent short-time working scheme, like the furlough scheme, to weather any future major disruption to the economy. This would guarantee that workers receive 80% of their wages if they are on the scheme, with anyone working less than 90% of their normal hours offered paid training. The scheme would be subject to time limits, with potential extensions in extenuating circumstances, and employers would have to show that there was a real reduction in demand due to the disruption.

The call comes as a Resolution Foundation/LSE report shows that low paid workers in high-pay areas have suffered the largest hits in terms of unemployment, with city centre areas recovering slower than tourist areas due to the slow return to the office.

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