SSP and furlough

milso

Hi, I have been on SSP for almost 6 months, I have worked out it will be 26 weeks on 10th April. My current sick note runs out on 18th May, I was planning on returning to work then however with the current situation everyone at my place of work are working from home and due to the amount of time I have been off I don't feel I could just go back to doing my job without support and supervision from colleagues.  If I were to request to be furloughed how would this work as I was only in receipt of SSP for the last 6 months. 
I have tried to call to see if I can claim ESA but after 2 weeks if calling I finally got through today after being on hold for 3 hours only to be cut off as I was explaining my situation. 
We are absolutely broke so the prospect of no income what so ever for me even just between 10th April and 28th May is frightening me so much.

I have been off sick after the death of my 21 year old son, 10 months after we lost our 17 year old daughter so I'm not just "taking advantage" of the situation.

7Phil

Sorry to hear about your position, you are enduring seriously hard times that I doubt many people will be able to fully understand.

The rules that I have seen state that if you are on SSP then furlough can commence at the end of that period. To me this seems at odds to common sense as I would have thought that you should benefit from the most favourable entitlement but despite my thoughts the guidelines aren't saying that at the moment.
I would suggest you do what you can and work with your employer as to whether there is anything they can do to bring forward the date you can be furloughed from.
I'm not sure what conditions, risks or rules they need to consider to be able to do this for you.

I hope they are receptive to your situation and will do their best for you.

milso

7Phil said:

Sorry to hear about your position, you are enduring seriously hard times that I doubt many people will be able to fully understand.

The rules that I have seen state that if you are on SSP then furlough can commence at the end of that period. To me this seems at odds to common sense as I would have thought that you should benefit from the most favourable entitlement but despite my thoughts the guidelines aren't saying that at the moment.
I would suggest you do what you can and work with your employer as to whether there is anything they can do to bring forward the date you can be furloughed from.
I'm not sure what conditions, risks or rules they need to consider to be able to do this for you.

I hope they are receptive to your situation and will do their best for you.

Thank you for your reply, my worry is that even if they do agree to furlough me, I was off on SSP last Feb after the death of my daughter. I didn't return to work until mid March after her death in December. I have read they will either pay me 80% of last Feb pay or an average of my monthly pay for the last 12 months both of which will be drastically lower than usual due to my two bouts of sick leave. My company don't pay any sick pay only SSP. With the unexpected cost of two funerals plus being on SSP twice once for 3 months and this time for 6 months our finances are in a dire state.

gary83

Firstly horrible situation to happen to anyone, unfortunately the guidance is clear you must remain on SSP for the amount of time you’ve been signed off as unable to work for, in your case until the 18th of may:

If you’re on sick leave or self-isolating because of coronavirus (COVID-19), speak to your employer about whether you’re eligible - you should get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) while you are on sick leave or self-isolating, but can be furloughed after this.

basically whilst you’re signed off as unfit to work you will only receive SSP, you can’t be changed over now the better offer of furlough pay has come along, that’s not down to the companies discretion  even though the company would be in a better position as they have to pay SSP out of their own pocket where as any furlough pay would come from the government.

milso

gary83 said:

Firstly horrible situation to happen to anyone, unfortunately the guidance is clear you must remain on SSP for the amount of time you’ve been signed off as unable to work for, in your case until the 18th of may:

If you’re on sick leave or self-isolating because of coronavirus (COVID-19), speak to your employer about whether you’re eligible - you should get  while you are on sick leave or self-isolating, but can be furloughed after this.

basically whilst you’re signed off as unfit to work you will only receive SSP, you can’t be changed over now the better offer of furlough pay has come along, that’s not down to the companies discretion  even though the company would be in a better position as they have to pay SSP out of their own pocket where as any furlough pay would come from the government.

Thank you for your reply, my intention is to try and claim ESA for the time between my SSP running out and the end of my sick note.
My furlough question is for when my sick note runs out, how would they calculate it given my situation as described in my above post.