No sick pay - paid hardly anything for this month's salary!

highlandspring21

Hi

I have a longstanding health condition (depression & anxiety), which means I have exceeded the 3 month limit of sick days I can have off at work with pay. I've had quite a bit of time off in Jan and Feb this year, and because I'm now not getting paid for those days, I've been told I'm only going to get around £50 paid this week for this month's pay (when it's normally around 1300!)

I'm back at work now and hopefully shouldn't have to have any more time off so will get paid in full at the end of March, but I don't know what I am going to do for this month! I can't borrow off family as they are skint. I have loans to pay out and obvious general living expenses.

What can I do??? Are there benefits I can claim??? I'd need them pretty quickly though! What do people do in this situation???

Thanks!

Mupette

have you ran out of S.S.P.?

If you have your employer should of given you a letter, which you used to be able to give to esa to cover the lost days, been a while i may be wrong.

Bit tight of employers but i guess within their rights, had similar with mine last month, they have a habit of building up my sick and taking huge chunks out of my wage rather than, if i have 5 days off one month deduct 5 days, they saved up about 2 weeks worth over a course of 3 months and took it all out, no notice just did it, then didn't pay enough ssp, i queried this, they said they would give me the missing ssp next time (they have online wage slip says so) but i could of done with their accuracy last month when they took the chunk out,

Good luck, i think you'll need it

highlandspring21

Yeah, I've ran out of the amount of time (3 months or whatever it is) that they will pay sick pay, if that's what you mean by running out of SSP. So they should have given me a form? Do you have a link to anywhere where it explains this online that I could point them to by any chance? I can't seem to find anything. Thank you v. much for the reply though! And yeah, it seems they've done the same with me... taken it all out of one paycheque as a big chunk!

tocs23

It sounds as though you have reached the limit of contractual sick pay (ie. sick days that your company is willing to continue to pay your normal salary), but you should be eligible for 28 weeks of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). This is taxable income, and currently around £87 p/w.

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

NYM

Your employer should complete a Form SSP1

SSP1 Form


*edit* sorry, I think I may have misunderstood. I thought you'd come to the end of SSP.

Mupette

no you get work sick pay, and when that runs out you have ssp (see link)
https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/overview

You can get £87.55 per week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you’re too ill to work. It’s paid by your employer for up to 28 weeks.
You need to qualify for SSP and have been off work sick for 4 or more days in a row (including non-working days).
You can’t get less than the statutory amount. You can get more if your company has a sick pay scheme (or ‘occupational scheme’) - check your employment contract.

so it might be worth speaking to your payroll and see what you are on, because if its just work sick pay, they should of put you on ssp, you dont need to fill out any forms for that, but once that runs out, i think you could claim esa whilst sick until fit to return to work.

sheeps68

SSP lasts for 28 weeks where company sick pay can be anything from 14 days up to 6 months. Your pay slip will tell you if you have been paid SSP

Mupette

wow 14 days, i only get 8, maybe because i am pro rata due to only managing part time.

having MS, OA as main issues, you can see how mine dont last

highlandspring21

I have had a lot of time off (in excess of 3 months in total I'm pretty sure since I started there in Oct 2012), so I think it might be that my SSP has ran out? If that's the case what do I do? Is that when I need to get that form, SSP1 from them to claim ESA? If so what's the turnaround time for getting ESA? Because obviously I need it pretty quickly... surely this happens to other people???

Mupette

If it was SSP your employer should of written to you to tell you what date it was going to run out on, they have to, because esa wont take your word for it, they will want that letter.

Check your wage slip because it has to show if it is ssp you are on.

chrisbur

highlandspring21 wrote: »

I have had a lot of time off (in excess of 3 months in total I'm pretty sure since I started there in Oct 2012), so I think it might be that my SSP has ran out? If that's the case what do I do? Is that when I need to get that form, SSP1 from them to claim ESA? If so what's the turnaround time for getting ESA? Because obviously I need it pretty quickly... surely this happens to other people???

Your SSP might in theory go back to when you first went of sick; but for this to happen you would need to have spells of work during this time which lasted no longer than 8 weeks. As soon as you have been back at work for over 8 weeks your SSP entitlement starts again with a new 28 weeks (After three non payment waiting days)

Whatever the reason you are not being paid SSP (if this is the case) you should receive an SSP1 form or some written explanation; if you have none then you are entitled to request a written explanation which if you then disagree with it you can refer to HMRC for a decision which your employer would be bound by if in your favour.