A quarter of staff not allowed time off to get Covid jab – CityAM : CityAM
Covid vaccinations are crucial in rebuilding confidence in the economy and protecting people against the virus, however a quarter of workers were not given time off to get the jab, a new survey finds.
Research by the public body Acas found one in four employers did not allow staff to take time off to not only receive the jab or to take sick pay when dealing with the side effects.
The study revealed 25 per cent of bosses who do not allow the time off have no plans to change tack.
Chief executive of Acas Susan Clews 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.”
Acas commissioned YouGov, a market research company, to carry out the study on 2,000 British businesses and the Covid-19 vaccine.
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The study, conducted in June, found six out of ten business have allowed staff time off when receiving the vaccine, but out of those not giving time-off only 4 per cent said they would bring it into effect.
Similarly a quarter of businesses who did not allow sick pay for the side effects of the vaccine had no plans to allow employers to take it.
Acas has urged businesses to consider allowing staff sick pay and time off for the vaccines.
The vaccination rollout began in December last year and has since double jabbed nearly 40m people, whilst an aditional 7 million have only had one dose, according to the latest figures.
Boris Johnson has previously described the milestone in the vaccine rollout as a “huge national achievement.”
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