18:23

Thousands of workers including refuse collectors, cleaners and maintenance staff are to receive full pay if they go off sick because of coronavirus, after their employer Amey admitted it was wrong to only offer £94.25 per week.

The outsourcing giant sparked anger among workers when a senior manager told them last week they would only get the statutory minimum because he believed Covid-19 was “less severe than flu”.

Less than 24 hours after the Guardian first reported the firm’s controversial position and with the death toll from the virus rising, Amey has announced that any employee who is affected by Covid-19 because they are sick or are self-isolating will receive full pay rather than statutory sick pay with immediate effect.

UK firm won't pay higher sick pay as Covid-19 'less severe than flu' Read more

Amanda Fisher, the chief executive of the services company with prison, defence and council contracts and a £2.3bn-a-year turnover, also issued a public apology. The new terms are likely to benefit up to 3,000 of the firm’s 17,000 employees who were facing the lowest rates of sick pay.

The attempt to downplay the severity of the illness which has claimed at least 33,000 lives globally, was described as “shocking” by the GMB union. It also appeared to be factually wrong. Flu has been calculated to be fatal in 0.1-0.2% of cases. Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has predicted that coronavirus would kill around 1% of the people who contracted it, and there are fears that figure could be higher.

Announcing its U-turn, Fisher said: