Must SSP made to a Parish Clerk be declared at the Parish Meeting ?

Question

Whilst the PC as an employer is legally required to pay SSP  should the amount be disclosed  and approved just as the clerks monthly salary & expenses are ?

Answer 1

By SSP do you mean State second pension or Statutory Sick pay? If the latter, the onus would be on the PC to justify withholding it. One argument could be that it amounts to personal data, i.e. by publication, it would be inferred that there are health issues attributable to an identifiable individual.

Comments

Thanks Graeme .  Moving on slightly,the council are not intending to object to the payment as the clerks employment contract stipulates that sick leave is paid as per salary. It's the lack of transparency I'm questioning ?  Why would/ could  this expenditure be withheld from  a. the council collectively and b. the public,   when the payment could simply be called clerks wages or whatever term is normally used ?

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Possibly for the reason above, a GDPR/ personal data issue.  The  clerk can simply say that they approve the publication of SSP. They could on the other hand argue it is personal data that should not be made available, as the period of sickness absence could be determined by the payments.

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This is the problem with data protection like most well(/) intentioned legislation in that it raises more problems than it solves leading to unrequired "red tape".
Surely if you follow a logical pathway as signposted by the " regulation" you would have to falsify the minutes of the meeting where the reason for the clerk being absent would need to be "airbrushed out" to cover up the fact that they are ill?