Thirty Seventh Report Contents

Instruments relating to COVID-19

Changes to benefits

Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/ 380)

16.This instrument revoked deeming provisions related to the claiming of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) during the pandemic to coordinate with the expiry of linked provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020. The provisions deemed individuals who were self-isolating or shielding due to coronavirus to be incapable of work, and therefore eligible for SSP, even if they had no symptoms. This change meant that, from 25 March, COVID-19 was to be treated like any other respiratory disease and the individual must be sick or incapable of work to qualify for payment of SSP.

17.The proposal was reviewed by the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) whose report, and the Government’s response to it, were laid alongside these Regulations.7 The SSAC drew attention to the speed with which the Regulations were formulated, stating that in consequence they had inadequate information on the Regulations’ impact on groups with protected characteristics, or on those with clinical vulnerabilities, social care workers and others in low paying roles. The Secretary of State’s response said that her officials have expanded the equality analysis to consider a wider range of data, and she is content that the consequences of the change are understood.

18.The SSAC was also critical of these Regulations being brought into effect before 1 April, when revised public health guidance was to be published.8 The Secretary of State responded that her officials had seen the guidance and she was content that there is no conflict: “While it would not be appropriate to discuss the detail of the future content of such guidance… I am satisfied that from 1 April there will be a rationale for treating COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses”. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not explain why the publication of the revised guidance was not coordinated with the changes to SSP on 25 March or why the SSAC could not have advance sight of it. DWP has responded seriously to the SSAC’s concerns but the fact that the follow-up analysis relied on confidential information frustrates the purpose of independent scrutiny.

Delayed or revoked legislation

National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/404)

19.These Regulations delay the start of the requirement for GPs to declare their earnings above £150,000 per year. An agreement between NHS England, NHS Improvement and the General Practitioners Committee England of the British Medical Association (BMA) was published in 20199 which required contractors and sub-contractors of medical services to submit self-declarations annually if their NHS superannuable earnings were above that threshold. In November 2021, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care took the decision to delay implementation of this policy until at least Spring 2022, to allow general practice to focus on seeing patients during the pandemic. These Regulations implement this delay by removing the requirement on relevant individuals to declare their 2020–21 NHS earnings by 30 April 2022. The Department of Health and Social Care states that these changes are made with the expectation that this policy will resume at a later date.

20.In the meantime, the BMA has published guidance on pay transparency in general practice.10


7 Department for Work and Pensions, ‘The Draft Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/****)’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-draft-statutory-sick-pay-general-coronavirus-amendment-regulations-2022-si-2022/the-draft-statutory-sick-pay-general-coronavirus-amendment-regulations-2022-si-2022 (24 March 2022) [accessed 26 April 2022].

8 UK Health Security Agency. ‘Living safely with respiratory infections, including COVID-19’: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-safely-with-respiratory-infections-including-covid-19 [accessed 26 April 2022] and UK Health Security Agency, ‘People with symptoms of a respiratory infection including COVID-19’: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19 [accessed 16 April 2022].

9 British Medical Association and NHS England, Investment and Evolution: A five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan (31 January 2019): https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gp-contract-2019.pdf [accessed 26 April 2022].

10 British Medical Association, ‘Declaring GP earnings over £150,000’: https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/pay/gp-pay/declaring-gp-earnings-over-150-000 [accessed 26 April 2022].




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