Been signed off sick from work, need advice.

colinthejanitor

Hey all, really need some help as I'm kinda worried and no-one seems to be able to give me advice.

My doctor has signed me off work until the NHS are able to escalate my issue (which hopefully wont be too much longer). I have given the note to my place of work but they don't really know what happens next. So i went to my council office who deal with housing benefit and council tax benefit and they gave me a form to fill out to make a claim. I also went to the job centre place and they gave me another form to apply for employment support allowance/incapacity benefit.

So i now have all these forms i am filling out but my doctors note says i will be on statutory sick pay, which I looked up online and it's something along the lines of £79 a week. This wont even pay my rent, let alone all the bills i have .

I'm really worried and no-ones giving me any information so i thought I'd post here.

What does being signed off sick entail?
Do i get statutory sick pay? Is that amount a week right?
What about rent? Bills? Council Tax?
I also have a loan that costs me about £100 a month, can i get any help with this?

Really unexpected situation has left me so worried I just don't know what to do.

Jowo_2

Means tested benefits ignore a person's debts - you will not get any state support to help you with this.

Make a separate posting on the Debt Freewannabee board to ask them how you could handle this due to your suddenly reduced income.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Illorinjured/DG_10018786

Tehya

Hello,

Depending on all your circumstances you can claim housing and council tax benefit when on SSP but you have to put in a separate claim with your council. When my husband first fell sick in 2008 he was on SSP and because I didn't earn much (part time wage) we still got help with rent etc and because we got a means tested benefit it automatically gave us free prescriptions as well.

Hope this helps,

Tehya

PS. If you've been paying PPI (payment protection insurance) on your loan you may get some help with that. We will have the majority of ours paid for 12 months as I've now become my hubbies carer but it can cover ill health as well.

passatrider

If you are employed then it is upto your employer to pay you either company sick pay, or statutory sick pay.
If your employer only pays statutory sick pay then this is payed through them who in turn claim it back off the DWP. I think statutory sick pay is in the region of £79 per week but is only payable after the first 3 days, they call these 'waiting days'. You should fill in the sick note and hand it to your employer who should then do all the rest I understand?

I do not think you need to fill in an ESA form at this stage but iam sure someone will be along and clarify this for you.

As regards your rent I'm afraid you just have to fill in the forms as best as you can and explain the situation to your landlord. Local Councils are not the most efficient when it comes to HB/CTB claims it's a case of hanging in there Iam afraid.

As regards your debts then either contact your lenders to put them in the picture or check to see if you have sickness cover on any of the loans you took out.

Iam sorry I could not have been a bit more positive but you really have to do your homework to get things done. Keep checking back here as some of the posts might be very helpfull to you!

Good luck!

colinthejanitor

Thanks for the advice so far, i will speak to the bank about the loan. That, to be honest was a long shot but worth asking because its another financial worry.

For the purposes of this thread the loan part has been answered.

It's a real worry it's this complicated when a person is in need.

passatrider

colinthejanitor wrote: »

Thanks for the advice so far, i will speak to the bank about the loan. That, to be honest was a long shot but worth asking because its another financial worry.

For the purposes of this thread the loan part has been answered.

It's a real worry it's this complicated when a person is in need.

I'm afraid the DWP/Local Council are good at making things difficult in the hour of need, however it's a system that is open to abuse so I guess it has to be stringent.

The rent and council tax are priority debts so get them sorted first above all else, aswell as your sick pay that is.:)

Jowo_2

If you are struggling with the forms you may find a local Citizens advice or welfare rights advice charity will give you a hand.

Look at the Entitled To website - its not 100% accurate but has a good reputation for being a good source for a person to understand their benefit entitlements.

Jowo_2

colinthejanitor wrote: »

It's a real worry it's this complicated when a person is in need.

It probably is fairly overwhelming for a novice claimant, particularly one that is stressed and sick like yourself. MSE is a blessing to those who are baffled by the complexity of the system.

But in context, do remember that there are more than 50+ benefits, credits and allowances available, many with interdependencies, and so the collection of accurate information is essential to prevent under/over payment and fraud. These additional benefits have been introduced as new types of need/poverty have been identified so its a reflection of how complex modern life is, too.

cynics do believe that welfare systems are made extremely undignified and bureaucratic to try and deter people from claiming and to try and encourage them to leave it as quickly as possible.

this probably discourages the needy like yourself, not the greedy and lazy though!

colinthejanitor

I'd say you're right, but my need outweighs my deterrence so I'm not just going to give up.

I'm assuming that because i have given my place of work my doctors note they sort out statutory sick pay for me? Or do I still have to do anything to start receiving it?

Tehya

Hi again,

Once you've given your employer your sick note (or fit note as they are called now) they should begin paying you your SSP. You will, unfortunately, lose the first three days of benefit but after it should be the usual SSP payment.

One piece of advice I would give is call your employers wages department to check when and how how much you'll receive as when my husband first went sick his boss didn't forward his sick note quick enough and we ended up waiting 2 weeks longer than we should have done for it to be paid. Oh and this was a big broadband company so not a small business.

Good luck and best wishes for a quick recovery for you,

Tehya