In a joint letter, the leaders of the REC, APSCo, TEAM and the Association of Labour Providers say that while they are grateful for the prompt introduction of a rebate of SSP for employers with less than 250 workers across all of their payroll scheme, they urge the government to extend the refund to employers with more than 250 workers. 

The letter warns that with more people expected to have to isolate over the coming month as a result of test and trace leading to growing levels of absence from work, and the furlough scheme due to come to an end, the number of SSP claims made on members’ firms will rise, and that unless action is taken “this could become a solvency issue” for some members. 

The letter explains that its members are “in a unique position”. “They may have few members of their own staff but a sizeable payroll of agency workers,” the letter states. “Our largest members have agency worker payrolls running into the tens of thousands, dwarfing their direct employee numbers. This particularly exposes them to the financial impact of SSP, an employer cost they are unable commercially to claim back from end-user clients in most cases.

“Some of our members, particularly those with very large agency worker payrolls, run their businesses on very tight margins, which are likely to get even tighter as the economy struggles to recover. They simply do not have the cash flow to finance high numbers of SSP payments,” the letter to Jesse Norman, MP financial secretary to the treasury, continues.

The letter goes on to say: “If this is considered to be too great a cost to the government then we ask that the rebate is extended to all employers when the absence arises from Covid-19 self-isolation, or alternatively that recruitment businesses are recognised as requiring specific government support on SSP payments for Covid-19 related absence.”

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