Sickness, resignation and benefits

Djlman

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and although I can see similar questions have been asked before, there seems to be a lot of individuality to people's situations.

I'm currently off sick with back issues that require surgery, and have been off since February. Having been off work for this long, means with my employer, that I am now only entitled to SSP with only another month or so left of that which leave me quite a bit short when my normal take home is £3500 a month.

My surgery is due in July, but has a long recovery period, so I will be getting very little if any income beyond my surgery date. As I'm currently employeed, this effectively still rules me out for any kind of benefit, so my questions are these...

1. If I remain at work, but signed off sick for around 6-12 months, are there another benefits I can claim? My wife works, but only gets about £15k a year... Would she be able to now apply for working tax credits, etc. as I now be effectively earning nothing?

2. If I resign, will that affect my wife's ability to start to claim benefits with me stating that I'm unemployed? I know I won't get JSA for 6 months using this route, but I'm not expected to be looking forwarding anytime soon.

I know there are some judgemental people on here sometimes, but I have been employed nonstop since leaving school, and have only claimed child benefit in that time when it was available to all. This is the first time I'm looking at doing this, and it is only for 6-12 months max.

Any advice from people in the know would be appreciated, and also from anyone who's been in a similar position.

Thanks, Dave.

tomtontom

You would need to claim ESA once your SSP entitlement has been exhausted. You don't need to resign to do this.

nannytone_2

you don't need to resign.

once your SSP finishes, you can claim contributions based ESA ( if you have paid enough NI contributions)
your wife's income will not be considered in this claim.

if you resign, your wife MAY be able to claim tax credits ( depending on circumstances, but the amount will certainly be less than ESA ( if you don't have children)

Darksparkle

What was household income last tax year?

What is expected household income for this tax year?

How many children do you have?

Do you have a mortgage/rent?

Any savings?

paddedjohn

Do not resign, while you are still employed you are accruing holiday entitlement, your employer may let you take some of this while in the sick if you are strapped for cash.

Torry_Quine

As others have said do not resign. You should get a form SSP1 from your employer to claim ESA.

Djlman

Thanks for all the replies.

Another quick question based on the ESA guidance...

As whilst on ESA and my wife on her £15k, can we still have here looked at for the child tax credits and working tax credits that we don't claim as we had earner too much before this happened?

Darksparkle

Djlman wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

Another quick question based on the ESA guidance...

As whilst on ESA and my wife on her £15k, can we still have here looked at for the child tax credits and working tax credits that we don't claim as we had earner too much before this happened?

That will depend on last year's income, this year's expected income, working hours, no of children, childcare etc.