[user104658]

To answer "would I take time off for a sniffle" - I can take a day off because I didn't get enough sleep. I can finish half way through the day because I'm feeling a bit low, or because it's the only nice day forecast in a week and I want to go for a walk in the hills "for my mental health". I obviously can't take the piss with it and do it every day but yes if I had a cold and wanted to spend the day in bed, I could, and I'd be paid. That's what working for an ethical company looks like. I know all too well that most companies are not run like that, but again, that's a systemic failing and nothing else. The fact that workers, human beings, are treated like drones and worked while they're ill isn't something that anyone should be happy about... and these "school attendance schemes" are basically just training kids up for that life.