Sickness benefit help please?

downandlow

My husband is off work, he has broken his wrist, (quite badly, needed pins,plates and screws put in) he has been off work for 3 weeks so far and will be off for at least another 5 (this is just in plaster and not including any physio he might need) he is a manual worker.

He gets full pay for the first 2 months he is off, and then after that he will get half pay from his employer, and SSP which amounts to around £10 per day. Do you think he would be able to claim any more benefits? If so where do we start?

Dont know if its of any interest, but the accident was not his fault and we have been looking into getting a solicitor involved, just waiting to hear about the insurance to cover the solicitors fees.

Many thanks

Sylvester

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are a possibility.

Need to phone local benefits unit, but I think it also depends on your income too.

dmg24

Yep, definitely depends on your income, and also if you have any children.

Was the accident caused through work? If so, it may be worth asking if they would keep him on full pay for longer, in place of a legal claim against them.

Do you have a mortgage? There are very (and I mean very!) limited circumstances where you can get help with the mortgage interest (not the repayment part), but I fear that even if you did qualify, on half pay you will have too high an income.

If you let us know more details, we'll do what we can to help x

downandlow

Thanks for replying, the accident happened when he was away on a course for work, in a hotel, so not sure if the company he works for would be involved or not.

Yes we have 5 children.

Yes we have a mortgage with Halifax, he is on full pay for the next 4 weeks, which is about £300 per week, plus £70 SSP but then he gets tax taken off that, so take home is around £300, but this will drop to half in 4 weeks time, still not sure how much longer he will be off sick, he has to go back to the hospital next week, and they said he will be in plaster for another 4 weeks after that, not sure if he will need physio or how much mobility he will have, he is an electrician, so needs both arms!

Hope that helps a bit more, sorry for being so scarce before, will post more information if you need it.

Thanks again for replying, will look into council tax benefit. Would we still be able to claim a reduced amount even if he is only off work for another month or so?

real1314

CTB is calculated/paid on a weekly basis, so even for a few weeks it may be worth making a claim.