Mental health and sick pay

danjackson2021

If someone is going to professional councillors for mental health reasons can they apply for sick pay?

when the companies sick pay runs out can they get government version? What kind of proof is needed please?  

Marcon

You might be allowed paid time off for medical appointments (you'd need to check with your employer whether this falls under such a category), but you wouldn't get sick pay to go to the doctor or dentist, so a counselling session isn't likely to qualify for different treatment.

SSP is paid for up to 28 weeks by your employer: https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay

When it runs out, you may be eligible for Universal Credit or ESA: https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/eligibility

elsien

Most employed people can get sick pay if they’re actually off sick and have a doctor’s note. Attending counselling sessions in and of itself is not sufficient reason to be off sick. Anyone can call themselves a counsellor, there’s no formal qualification needed, so it’s not necessarily proof of anything from an employment point of view. 

What does the person’s GP say?   

Other answers are the same as when one of the people using the account last asked in May. 

Manxman_in_exile

I don't think the OP is talking about "sick pay" to attend counselling sessions?  I think they want to justify going off work sick because they are attending counselling?

OP - what does your doctor say?

Undervalued

Manxman_in_exile said:

I don't think the OP is talking about "sick pay" to attend counselling sessions?  I think they want to justify going off work sick because they are attending counselling?

OP - what does your doctor say?

Exactly.

If a doctor issues a "sick note" then, assuming a normal NI contribution record, the employee would be entitled to at least statutory sick pay. Any company sick pay entitlement is almost always "discretionary" so it would depend on their contract and the amount of discretion the firm is willing to extend.

As also mentioned in another post above, "counselling" is totally unregulated in the UK. There are many professional and ethical counsellors who are generally members of either the UKCP or the BACP who promote training and good standards. However neither of these bodies have any statutory powers to regulate the "profession" and there are quite a lot of right charlatans out there too!

Take care. 

oh_really

Is this yet another random dead end thread by the op?

danjackson2021

It’s not a dead end thread at all but if you think it is then please stay away

those that find it useful please continue here

So an update many companies are indeed sympathetic to the situation caused over the last 18months but I hear some companies are being funny about it all

elsien

danjackson2021 said:

It’s not a dead end thread at all but if you think it is then please stay away

those that find it useful please continue here

So an update many companies are indeed sympathetic to the situation caused over the last 18months but I hear some companies are being funny about it all

That's more of a general somewhat unsubstantiated comment than an update, given the slightly more specific query in the OP. 
Is there a more specific question that you are looking for an answer for? 

oh_really

Folks waste time replying to your threads, which invariably turn out to be pointless drivel. Posters can dip into your thread history and see you have form for this and indeed your reply to this thread kinda demonstrates this.

Manxman_in_exile

My favourite was the student loan for the drone pilot course.