Next, Ikea, Morrisons and Ocado have all announced that they will reduce sick pay for their unvaccinated staff who must isolate after coming into close contact with someone who has Covid.

Employees who have not been vaccinated will however still receive sick pay if they test positive for the virus.

Unvaccinated staff (who in the UK must self isolate for 10 days, unlike those who have had two doses of vaccine) will now only be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) during their isolation period - unless there are mitigating circumstances.

Statutory Sick Pay is currently set at £96.35 a week, compared with weekly pay of more than £400 before tax for an average store worker at Ikea and between £6.55 and £9.21 an hour for store sales consultants and stock assistants at Next.

Next have called the decision an “emotive topic” but explained they had been dealing with a higher level of staff absence as a result of the Omicron variant.

Nevertheless, employment lawyers have concerns that companies who introduce such policies could open themselves up to discrimination claims from staff.

Matt Jenkin, Employment Partner at law firm Moorcrofts said:

“….sick pay entitlement for many employees forms part of their contractual terms……In those cases, simply imposing a change to sick pay exposes employers to unfair or constructive dismissal claims. There is also the added headache of the need to process vaccination status for employees which can lead to personal data protection concerns.”

Trade unions also expressed concerns about the move, with Paddy Lillis, General Secretary for retail trade union USDAW, stating:

“Statutory Sick Pay is simply not enough to survive on and workers earning less than £120 per week aren’t entitled to any statutory pay at all.”