benefits v savings

notdeadyet1234

i am about to fill in a form for ssp (sick pay) one question asks about
my savings do i have to answer this and does it affect my claim:beer:

pmlindyloo

Statutory Sick Pay is not a benefit. If is paid by your employer because you are off sick. This is the minimum you should be paid if you meet the eligibility criteria - some employers pay more than this (contractual sick pay)

What form are you filling in?

Please explain your circumstances so we can help.

notdeadyet1234

soz my employer has stopped paying my ssp because it has run out
i have fill in ssp1 to carry on being payed i am concerened about giving detail of my savings

Torry_Quine

notdeadyet1234 wrote: »

soz my employer has stopped paying my ssp because it has run out
i have fill in ssp1 to carry on being payed i am concerened about giving detail of my savings

That is a form to claim ESA as you have run out of SSP. If you have enough NI contributions then you would get contribution based but if not then it would be income based which is why the question about savings.

notdeadyet1234

so i do have to reveal my savings then ? i was self employed nearly 30
yrs employee for last 4 yrs:mad:

pmlindyloo

Have a read of this:

https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/overview

If you have been employed for the last 4 years and paid NI contributions then you will be entitled to contribution based ESA and your savings will not make any difference.

However, they will also be assessing you for income based ESA which gives you automatic entitlement to other benefits so they want to know if you are eligible for other benefits, hence the question.

By the way, you will need to continue to produce fit notes to claim this benefit.

notdeadyet1234

is there a limit on the amount saved before it affects payment ?

Torry_Quine

notdeadyet1234 wrote: »

is there a limit on the amount saved before it affects payment ?

For income based you get nothing if savings over £16,000 and a sliding scale if between £6,000 and £16,000. If you are married or have a partner their income is also taken into account.

pmlindyloo

notdeadyet1234 wrote: »

is there a limit on the amount saved before it affects payment ?

If you have been an employee for the last 4 years and paid your NI contributions then no other income (except a private pension) or savings will be taken into account as you will be receiving contribution based ESA.

It is only if you are not entitled to contribution based ESA that other income and savings are taken into account.


The reason thy ask about your savings is because some people will be entitled to contribution based ESA but also have an underlying entitlement to income based ESA (which make them eligible for housing costs, council tax support.)

If someone is eligible for contribution based ESA because they have paid the correct NI contributions this will always be given first (it's from a different 'pot of money'.) But if that person has savings under £6000 and no other income then they will have an underlying entitlement to the income based ESA and will still be able to get other benefits.

Hope that makes it clear.

If you want to share your circumstances for further help then please do.

If not, based on what you have said, you will get contribution based ESA.

rozmister

If you don't declare your savings and are awarded any means tested benefits based on that form you will have committed benefit fraud and stolen from the taxpayer. You'll get contributions based ESA anyway if you've been working the past four years so writing down your savings won't affect the amount you're paid.

sunnyone

You only commit benefit fraud if you lie on the means tested form that you get when you are awarded ESA, if you have savings you just dont fill in that form at all and if you are entitled to contributions based ESA you continue to recieve it (one year in the WRAG, indefinate if you are in the support group) no matter how much you have in savings.

The DWP do pester you to fill in the means tested forms but its none of their buisness what savings you have if you are claiming contributions based benefits only.