lots of companies do this. For example my husband works for a national civil engineering company. He is a health and safety officer and so is salaried and gets sick pay.
the people who actually do the manual work are on hourly pay so dont get sick pay, pension, healthcare etc (although they probably get actaul paid more than him)
There are 2 types of sick pay - contractual & statutory. Contractual depends on what the employment contract says & can differ between different workers in the same company.
Statutory is a compulsory payment which starts after the third day of absence. The amount is around �60 - �65 per week. Everyone is entitled to this but if contractual sick pay is more then the statutory is not paid as well.
themas not every employee is entitled to SSP since their average earnings have to be above a certain level and agency workers whose contract is less than three months are not entitled to it.
If you do not qualify for SSP you can make a claim for Incapacity Benefit using form SSP1, which your employer should fill in and give to you upon request. You then need to contact Jobcentre Plus who will explain what you need to do with this form.