Entitled to sick pay?

SSP is paid by an employer. If he is not employed he cannot get SSP. He may be able to claim new style ESA
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-employment-and-support-allowance

ESA is not means tested except that a deduction of 50% of any pension income over £85 will be made from the amount of ESA payable.

If they claim in December DWP will look at their NI record for the tax years 2016-17 and 2017-18. If they claim after the first Sunday in January the years looked at will be 2017-18 and 2018-19.

If he and your sister are on a low income with less than £16,000 of savings they may be able to claim Universal Credit.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/

CEON44 wrote: »

Sorry, should have said.
Not my sisters husband. Its my wifes brother. He is single with no dependents. With regards savings he has none at the minute but he is being pensioned off medically and in December will receive about £43k and weekly pension of about £275. He does however have outstanding mortgage of about £33k so he wants to pay that off leaving him about 10k He has been in work solidly since age 18 and has full NI contributions. He himself hasnt mentioned ESA I was just thinking about whether he could claim it as he has medical condition

Based on that information when he does receive the £43,000 then he won't be entitled to any Universal Credit because of the £16,000 savings limit. This will include if he pays off his mortgage because it could be classed as deprivation of capital.


You say his weekly pension will be £275, is that correct? If so then any pension over £85 per week reduces the amount of New style ESA he maybe entitled to and with that amount of pension it will reduced the ESA to zero. This is because a pension will reduce the ESA by 50p for every £1 over £85.

poppy12345 wrote: »

Based on that information when he does receive the £43,000 then he won't be entitled to any Universal Credit because of the £16,000 savings limit. This will include if he pays off his mortgage because it could be classed as deprivation of capital.

Deprivation of capital rules are different for UC. Paying off debt, including a mortgage, is not deprivation of capital. He can therefore reduce capital by paying off mortgage and could then claim UC without being affected by capital rules.

UC Regulations 2013
Notional capital

50.—(1) A person is to be treated as possessing capital of which the person has deprived themselves for the purpose of securing entitlement to universal credit or to an increased amount of universal credit.
(2) A person is not to be treated as depriving themselves of capital if the person disposes of it for the purposes of—
(a)reducing or paying a debt owed by the person; or
(b)purchasing goods or services if the expenditure was reasonable in the circumstances of the person’s case.


However with a pension of £275/week there will not be any entitlement to UC due to income.

CEON44 wrote: »

Thanks for the answers. So it looks like he wont be entitled to any ESA. Thought it was worth asking.

See post 7, in addition he would get NI credits.