Member

As the employee contributory element was eroded in the 1980s and 1990s, during the twists and turns of attempts to control escalating public expenditure, limits were introduced—we have heard about them from my noble friend Lady Coffey. They were whittled down between 1983 and 1991—I will spare noble Lords the figures—and, from 1994, we arrived at the 80% reimbursement rate of SSP being abolished for all employers but continued with a recovery, a rebate, at 100%, commencing after four weeks instead of six. In April 1995, that was abolished, but a percentage threshold scheme was put in its place. All the time, it was recognised that employers were compensated for high levels of sickness absence: they could recover part of their statutory sick pay costs where they exceeded a specified percentage of their total gross class 1 NIC liability in a tax month, the amount reimbursed being the excess in statutory sick pay paid above the percentage threshold.