Employer won't pay ssp

[CCL1967]

Is this legal? I'm due to have surgery (major) end of January and need to be off for minimum 6 weeks as I won't be able to drive. I told my employer as soon as I knew, back in October. My contract states I will be paid ssp as they don't run a sick scheme. Last week she told me she can't afford to pay the ssp as she is a small company and doesn't get help from hmrc due to new rules from last April. So basically I will be off work for 6 weeks (minimum) with no income. Is this legal re the non payment of ssp?

[EBearhug]

Surely the first S is the clue - statutory? However, it does depend on your eligibility.

You can check whether you're eligible - Eligibility

CAB advice - it's got a section on What you can do if your employer won't pay you Statutory Sick Pay.

If you're in a union, then ask them for advice, too.

Are there any options for working from home at all, at least for the latter end of the sick leave (obviously depends on your role), if driving is the only reason you can't work? Obviously it will depend on how well your recovery goes anyway - it can take some people quite a while to get over GA, and you may just need all the time for recovery anyway. I'm just thinking that if you can recognise that it's causing her difficulty and have considered different options, that's likely to get you further than just going in and saying, "You're wrong! You have to pay!" Showing that you understand her point of view doesn't mean you should just accept it, though. (Obviously in an ideal world, they'd just be totally supportive, and you wouldn't have anything except yourself to worry about, but we don't live in an ideal world.)

I hope it all goes well for you and it's a swift recovery and the sick pay is sorted with as little hassle as possible.

[CCL1967]

Thankyou bear hug. I am a manager of an out of hours play scheme and therefore no option to work from home and also when I return I wouldn't be able to shift play equipment etc as I am having open bowel surgery with a cut hip to hip and possibly vertically too. I am eligible in that I earn over the minimum required to qualify for ssp. It is only me and one other woman that run the scheme. I understand from her point of view how inconvenient this is but this has come out of the blue for me and was initially a cancer scare and it was only after having a laparoscopy they realised the severity of my problems.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

With the new scheme she did get £2000 taken of her NI bill so currently she should be better off under the new scheme.

[Lunastarfish]

I think you need to complain to HMRC about non payment of SSP. The employer has to pay. Check hmrc website for details