Am I entitled to SSP?

Jennifer88_2

I was recently involved in a serious car accident which resulted in me not being able to work for 2 months. I currently earn £429.25 per month. My employers accountant has never deducted N.I or Tax from my wages and paid me SSP for the time I was off. But now my employer says that because i didn't pay N.I, I now have to pay them back all of my SSP money i received!!

This makes me very angry as when I had the accident I asked if I was entitled to it and they said yes and because they were going to be paying me the SSP I was not entitled to any other benefits from my local authority. So for the past 2 and a half months I have really struggled to make ends meet due to being signed off for so long and now paying back the money will cripple me as I do not know where I am going to find the money from.

I have rung citizens advice bureau and it was like talking to a brick wall and the phone call ended by them saying they were not really sure...which was really not much help

I would be soooo grateful if someone could offer me some help and advice.

Kind Regards

Jennifer

Googlewhacker

Phone ACAS up

JCS1

Little light reading from HMRC:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e14.pdf

The website makes mention of the Lower Earnings Limit for NIC which you have to earn to be eligible for SSP.

For 2010-2011 tax year it is £97 per week. For the 2009-2010 tax year it was £95 per week.

Your earnings of £429-25 per month = £5,151 per year = £99 per week.

You will need to check your payslips carefully for the relevant period, details on page 12 & 14, as if you earnt less one week it could possibly make the average below the LEL and so SSP would not be payable.

chrisbur

You do not have to pay NI to qualify for SSP. You have to have average earnings prior to the sickness of at least the lower earnings limit, which for 09/10 was £95 and for 10/11 it is £97. Provided that you have earnings of at least this level you are treated as having paid national insurance even though you do not actually pay it until you reach a higher level of earnings, the earnings threshold.
Assuming that you received £429.25 in both months before your sickness this gives 429.25 x2 = 858.50/2 = 429.25 x 12 = 5151 / 52 = 99.0577. This is enough to qualify for SSP whether it fell in this year or last.

Jennifer88_2

Thank you so much for all your help