Dr. Sharon McGuinness:

From the authority's perspective, in a sense we do not have a responsibility for sick pay. This is about anything that protects the workers and makes them feel comfortable not going to work. The advice is that anyone who has symptoms of Covid should not go to work because it protects not only himself or herself but also the other workers. That advice is very clear. The systems in place to enable that and to protect the worker by allowing him or her to stay at home while sick are vitally important and obviously sick leave is part of that.

There were some comments made earlier and to be clear, the protection of workers is our ultimate concern. We already have three reporting systems, which gives us quite a high level of information on what is happening in workplaces. Not all of them are coming directly from the employers but that does not prevent our organisation from taking the necessary steps to support and prevent, and protect our workers from Covid-19 in the workplace. We are mindful that any reporting system is just one part of our extensive set of approaches that we use at all times. We are not waiting for a report in order to act at any stage in that regard either.