IKEA has slashed sick pay for unvaccinated UK staff who are self-isolating because of close contact with someone with COVID-19.
The controversial move – which was first reported by the Mail on Sunday – means that unvaccinated UK workers at the global furniture retailer, who are forced to isolate for that reason, could now be only entitled to the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) minimum of £96.35 a week during 10 days of isolation.
That compares to more than £400 for an average 40-hour IKEA shop floor week.
When it comes to unvaccinated employees who test positive themselves, managers at IKEA – which has a number of stores in the North West region, including in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, and employs 10,000 staff in the UK – said they will receive full company sick pay, which is higher than the statutory level.
Yet staff who are vaccinated – or unvaccinated due to mitigating circumstances – will receive full pay if they are off for COVID-related reasons.
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Mitigating circumstances include pregnancy or other medical grounds
IKEA has slashed sick pay for unvaccinated UK staff who are self-isolating because of being a close contact / Credit: IKEA
Addressing the move, a spokesperson for IKEA said: “Since the start of the pandemic, the health and safety of our co-workers has been our highest priority [and] since then, IKEA has been working with a separate absence addendum, which is regularly reviewed in line with changes to government guidance.
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“Following the vaccine roll out and changes in the government’s isolation requirements, our approach to COVID-related absences evolved from the 20 September 2021 – an approach developed with our social partners and national co-worker committee.”
They added: “We know this is a highly emotive topic and we appreciate there are many unique circumstances.
“As such, all will be considered on a case by case basis.”
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Unvaccinated staff will only entitled to the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) minimum of £96.35 a week during 10 days of isolation / Credit: IKEA
At present, people who had had at least two doses of a COVID vaccine are not required to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone infected – but by law, people who are unvaccinated and are contacted through the government’s ‘Test and Trace’ system must self-isolate for 10 days.
IKEA is not the first employer to introduced measures for unvaccinated staff.
Big American employers including Google and United Airlines have introduced “no jab, no job” policies with varying degrees of strictness, while Virgin Atlantic announced last year it will not hire new cabin crew or pilots who are not fully vaccinated.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
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Pep Guardiola delivers gutting news as Man City are hit with Erling Haaland injury blow
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola has passed on some gutting fitness news for Manchester City fans as star striker Erling Haaland is confirmed to be injured for several weeks and could even miss the rest of the Premier League season.
The title might be out of reach this year, and the Champions League knockout against Real Madrid was definitely hard for Blues to take, but with Man City into the semi-finals of the FA Cup, there’s still a very strong chance they could end 2024/25 with a piece of silverware.
However, they’ll have to make it through another two massive rounds at Wembley and seemingly the remainder of the season without Haaland and his goals, as the Catalan coach revealed that the club expects him to be out injured for “six to seven weeks.”
Not exactly how City fans would have wanted to see the rest of an already frustrating season play out.
🗣️ "We don't have another player with his skills."
Relaying diagnosis from the medical team, Pep said the hope is that the big Norwegian number nine could be back for the very tail end of the campaign, but at the very least, he “will be ready for the [FIFA Club] World Cup.”
He went on to add that “these kinds of things happen” and that he feels “sorry” for all of the other injuries that have befell his squad up till now, adding that they can only hope for a speedy recovery and for him to return as soon as possible.
The 24-year-old hasn’t had too many big injury problems in his career thus far, although his longest spell on the sidelines did come at the end of 2023 when a stress fracture kept him out until the new year.
This time around, Haaland suffered an injury to his ankle during the City’s FA Cup win over Bournemouth on Sunday following a challenge from defensive midfielder Lewis Cook.
He was forced in the second half and was seen leaving the Vitality Stadium on crutches after the game.
Erling Haaland seen leaving Bournemouth in a protective boot and crutches. 🤕
Having led the golden boot race for a good chunk of the season – as he’s become accustomed too since he arrived in England – City‘s sub-optimal season has seen him slink into second behind high-flying Mo Salah on 27, but he still has a couple dozen goals and a trio of assists to show for it.
Speaking of Salah, the soon-to-leave ‘Egyptian King’ has been the talisman for Liverpool this season, and his contributions could see them lift the trophy in Arne Slot’s first season as early as 13 April, depending on how fellow title rivals Arsenal fare in their next two matches.
As for how City round out their domestic campaign, reclaiming the FA Cup after last year’s derby disappointment looks like the main goal.
You can watch Pep Guardiola’s press conference ahead of the game against Leicester City at 19:45pm tomorrow (Wednesday, 2 April) in full HERE.
Hilarious study names Manchester as one of the UK’s most hungover cities
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s most hungover cities, according to a hilarious new study.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all had one of those mornings – or a lot more than one, for many of us.
The kind where you wake up regretting ordering that last pint, or your decision to mix your drinks, questioning every life choice while desperately Googling ‘hangover cures that actually work’… but it turns out that some UK cities are way more prone to struggling with hangovers than others, and Manchester is one of them.
In a bid to uncover where in the country people are searching for hangover cures the most, alcohol-free beer brand Mash Gang has crunched the numbers and analysed more than 5.5 million Google searches across every city.
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s most hungover cities / Credit: Kraken Images (via Unsplash)
We always knew Manchester would be close to the top, but in this instance, we’ve actually just missed out on the number one spot, as our city has officially been ranked the second most hungover in the UK, just behind the ‘undisputed hungover capital’ itself, which is Birmingham.
According to the study, whether it’s the legendary Northern Quater or the city’s famous Gay Village, us Mancs are waking up with sore heads a lot more than anywhere else in the North.
While the North can often be underrepresented in top 10 lists, this doesn’t seem to be the case here, as other major cities such as Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield have all earned their place.
UK’s top 10 most hungover cities
Birmingham
Manchester
Liverpool
Bristol
Leeds
Newcastle
Sheffield
Plymouth
Coventry
Wolverhampton
It’s all according to a new survey finding the city with the most sore heads in the country / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
On the other end of the scale, Ripon has emerged as the UK’s least hungover city, closely followed by Carlisle, which means that if you’re looking for a place to escape temptation, or to just find people who actually get up early on weekends, then you know where to head to.
As well as the top 10 list, Mash Gang’s analysis data also showed just how much people are looking for hangover solutions, as in just the past month alone, there have been 178,000 searches for “hair of the dog,” and the search term “hangover food” has been looked up 72,000 times in the same period.
On top of this, searches for ‘zebra striping’ – which is a method where people alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to lessen the impact of drinking – have also increased by 424% in the past quarter.
The Manc -
11th January 2022 
