Just been put on SSP

ady19792

Hi, I work full time and have done since leaving school in 1995, my wife is a stay at home mum to our 3 boys who are all under 5.
I earn £300 a week after tax, receive some tax credits and child tax credits. I also get £100 a month housing benefit.
Today I have been signed off work for a month due to ill health, I'm told it can take upto a year to fully recover, so I can't see me being back at work within the next 3 months, although I need to be back ASAP. I only get £88 a week ssp.

Am I entitled to claim anything to help? I have no knowledge on this, we live month to month so wont take long for things to get difficult financially.
I presume my tax credits and child tax stays the same even though my income has suddenly dropped for the short term.

Darksparkle

Re: tax credits. You are still considered working for the first 28 weeks when off sick so will remain eligible for WTC. If after 28 weeks you are still off sick you would need to inform them.

If you had an idea how long you'd be off for then you could update a new estimated income for this tax year. Your income this year would need to have reduced by more than £2500 for it to make a difference.

You'll need to inform housing benefit of your change of income.

While on SSP you won't be entitled to ESA.

Depending on the illness/disability you have you may be able to claim PIP but you would need to have care and/or mobility needs, have the difficulties for last 3 months and expect them to last for at least 9 months.

If you will be at home, could your wife consider looking for temporary work? Or does your illness stop you from being able to care for the children?

sammyjammy

You may also be entitled to an increase in your housing benefit, you'll need to contact them with the changes of your claim.

TELLIT01

As a couple you may also be entitled to Income Support as a top up to SSP.

pmlindyloo

TELLIT01 wrote: »

As a couple you may also be entitled to Income Support as a top up to SSP.

This is definitely the way to go.

Income Support can be claimed as it acts as a 'top up' to your SSP.

It is a means tested benefits so you would have to have savings under £16000 to claim. Any savings above £6000 are counted as income at the rate of £1 for every £250 over the £6000.

Since you say you are struggling financially then I am assuming you have little or no savings.

Income Support will give you automatic entitlement to HB and CT reduction up to your personal circumstances.

With most of your rent paid and most of your CT paid then you should be fine on your Income Support, tax credits and child benefit.

But do take notice of Darksparkle's advice about tax credits.

So first thing is to put in a claim for Income Support.

Darksparkle

pmlindyloo wrote: »

This is definitely the way to go.

Income Support can be claimed as it acts as a 'top up' to your SSP.

It is a means tested benefits so you would have to have savings under £16000 to claim. Any savings above £6000 are counted as income at the rate of £1 for every £250 over the £6000.

Since you say you are struggling financially then I am assuming you have little or no savings.

Income Support will give you automatic entitlement to HB and CT reduction up to your personal circumstances.

With most of your rent paid and most of your CT paid then you should be fine on your Income Support, tax credits and child benefit.

But do take notice of Darksparkle's advice about tax credits.

So first thing is to put in a claim for Income Support.

Would IS take OPs WTC as income as well as SSP?

TELLIT01

Yes, WTC is taken into account, CTC isn't.

NLW

If your at home now could your wife get a temporary job?

pmlindyloo

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Yes, WTC is taken into account, CTC isn't.

It seems that both are taken into account.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509886/dmgch28.pdf

scroll down to 28050

On the entitledto calculator it shows no income support award even if the OP wasn't receiving working tax credit, just child tax credit. But it does say it might be worth making a claim.

Mmmmm........ best thing to do is make a claim and see what they say.

Must admit I don't really understand this. I know single mums who get income Support and child tax credits.

Have I misread the link?

TELLIT01

I don't know if you have misread the link, or if the information on the link is simply wrong. Unless the rules have changed in the past few months, which seems very unlikely, CTC is not taken into account.

ady19792

Thanks for all advice, I've got lots of helpful information. My wife is looking for temporary work,