Help and advice requested

RayRudd

Hi there
Very new (first post) to this forum but hoping you will be able to provide some useful advice.
In a nutshell I am trying to assist a very good friend who had a operation for lung cancer last October (She had 75% of one lung removed). She has been unable to work since and is advised that she is unlikely to return to work. Her employer was very good but since 01 April 2008 has only been paying SSP. What is worse is that she used to work shifts and SSP is only being paid at a rate of £15.08 per weekday shift. This means her maximum take home pay is around £241 per month. On her behalf I applied for Disability Living Allowance but this was turned down, and since then I have applied for Incapacity Benefit when she went onto SSP, but this has also been turned down. With mortgage payments of £350 per month A service charge of £800 per year plus the usually fuel bills etc we are now wondering were to turn next. There is an outstanding claim for Housing Benefit, but I am not that hopeful that will succeed. I have offered to phone the benefit service but they seem to be suggesting that legally she is in receipt of sufficient money to live on.
Any help and advice members can offer would be helpful.
Ray

dmg24

Hi Ray,

Does your friend live alone?

How many weeks has she been on SSP for, and how much does she receive per day or per week (not per shift)? The claim for IB would fail because you cannot claim IB and SSP at the same time.

If your friend has a mortgage she will not receive Housing Benefit, though she may be eligible for Council Tax Benefit. She may be eligible for help with the mortgage, but only after 39 weeks.

Oldernotwiser

It might be that she can no longer do the job she's been doing but that she could do something else - perhaps in a different environment or less physically strenuous. That could also be part of the reason that she's been turned down. Does this sound as though this might be her situation?

RayRudd

Does your friend live alone?
Yes she does.

How many weeks has she been on SSP for, and how much does she receive per day or per week (not per shift)? The claim for IB would fail because you cannot claim IB and SSP at the same time.
SSP started on 01 April 2008, prior to that she was on ½ pay. Her payslip for May was £124 and when she rang her employer and asked why it was so low they explained that they can only pay SSP for those shifts that would fall on weekdays. Because she is on a rolling shift pattern of 4 days on and 4 days off almost half the shift fall at weekends.

If your friend has a mortgage she will not receive Housing Benefit, though she may be eligible for Council Tax Benefit. She may be eligible for help with the mortgage, but only after 39 weeks.
That may be some help by my calculations 39 weeks would be take her to around Dec this year which means that when to mortgage protection runs out she may get help.

Ray

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It might be that she can no longer do the job she's been doing but that she could do something else - perhaps in a different environment or less physically strenuous. That could also be part of the reason that she's been turned down. Does this sound as though this might be her situation?

Good point, but the IB application should not have even got that far. They would see that she is still receiving SSP and decline the application x

RayRudd

It might be that she can no longer do the job she's been doing but that she could do something else - perhaps in a different environment or less physically strenuous. That could also be part of the reason that she's been turned down. Does this sound as though this might be her situation?

I don’t think so there have been other complications since her operation. She has to have another operation to correct a problem with her shoulders which the first operation created. The consultant said she is unlikely to be able to return to work for the foreseeable future. In fact he actually said he thought she was incapable of work. She is 60 in August.

Ray

dmg24

RayRudd wrote: »

Does your friend live alone?
Yes she does.

How many weeks has she been on SSP for, and how much does she receive per day or per week (not per shift)? The claim for IB would fail because you cannot claim IB and SSP at the same time.
SSP started on 01 April 2008, prior to that she was on ½ pay. Her payslip for May was £124 and when she rang her employer and asked why it was so low they explained that they can only pay SSP for those shifts that would fall on weekdays. Because she is on a rolling shift pattern of 4 days on and 4 days off almost half the shift fall at weekends.

If your friend has a mortgage she will not receive Housing Benefit, though she may be eligible for Council Tax Benefit. She may be eligible for help with the mortgage, but only after 39 weeks.
That may be some help by my calculations 39 weeks would be take her to around Dec this year which means that when to mortgage protection runs out she may get help.

Ray

Her employer is wrong, SSP is paid irrespective of what days she works at a rate of £75.40 per week.

You need to check with the DWP when the thirty nine weeks would start. I'm not sure if the fact that she currently gets her mortgage paid through insurance would mean this period would be excluded (someone else on here will probably know).

dmg24

RayRudd wrote: »

It might be that she can no longer do the job she's been doing but that she could do something else - perhaps in a different environment or less physically strenuous. That could also be part of the reason that she's been turned down. Does this sound as though this might be her situation?

I don’t think so there have been other complications since her operation. She has to have another operation to correct a problem with her shoulders which the first operation created. The consultant said she is unlikely to be able to return to work for the foreseeable future. In fact he actually said he thought she was incapable of work. She is 60 in August.

Ray

When she is sixty she may be entitled to Pension Credits. It isn't an area I know anything about, but she may be better off on them?

Has the employer suggested retirement on medical grounds?

RayRudd

Has the employer suggested retirement on medical grounds?

We are reluctant to tell her employer what the consultant said in case they terminate her employment and she looses the SSP.

Ray

SuziQ

She needs to a) speak to acas who can advise on her rights of employment re ill health and perhaps b) go to CAB. She can't go on with this uncertainty with her current health issues and needs to know exactly what she is entitled to job-wise and benefit-wise. I have found ACAS to be fantastic in the past re the employment side,I wish her well with her recovery.

dmg24

Benefit wise, at present she is not entitled to anything more than SSP. However, I would suggest reapplying for DLA, and possibly getting help with the application form.

Eventually the employer will request a medical report, it is unlikely that they will keep the job open indefinitely.

Does she have a pension in place?