I need a massive handhold, single parent, long covid and possibility of losing my job

[thetrees]

Namechanged for this. I have long covid, I've had it since July but was making good progress and was planning a phased return to work. While discussing the phased return I was told that there was a massive fuck up and that I had only been entitled to two months sick leave on full pay and two on half, and that my employer is going to claw back the money they have overpaid. I have checked with ACAS and they are entitled to do this.

My manager and I had assumed I was entitled to six months. I know I should have checked, but I have LC and had had regular check ins with my manager.

I am now on SSP and was worried about getting better within six months, but I have just checked the sick leave policy which says that SSP is 'subject to remaining entitlement'. So I think I will only be entitled to two months. Again, ACAS confirm that this is at employers discretion.

I am absolutely terrified and can't stop crying. I am over 50 and a single parent. I have no fucking idea what I am going to do if I lose my job. Long covid is very dependent on calming the nervous system and this has really set me back. I have been doing endless meditations and yoga and really being brave but the fear has just overwhelmed me. Kids are at their dads this weekend and I could really do with some advice/company.

Did you get vaccinated? Would that help? So sorry to be able to offer anymore advice ☹️

Why are you going to lose your job? This is their error isn’t it?

People with long covid are losing their jobs once their sick leave entitlement is used up. If you can’t return to work, they dismiss you.

Huge sympathy as I have ME and have been too ill to work at all for nearly 10 years. It's horrendous. If you're a single parent with no other income you could look at income-based ESA when sick pay stops I think. Not an expert but you could speak to CAB.

Yes and all my boosters. Getting the vaccination doesn't mean you don't catch covid ffs

Sorry @Pinky1011 you were trying to help. I couldn't be further from being an anti vaxxer.

It's ok, your stressed understandably! ☹️ My heart goes out to you! They should have some sort of remedy for people suffering with long COVID. I thought the Jabs were supposed to prevent this! It's ridiculous how there just letting people suffer with this and them punishing them! Especially when you did everything right and got vaccinated.

SSP is paid for 28 weeks. However it may be that it has been paid as part of your full pay. When ssp ends you can claim new style ESA if you still cannot work and as long as you have paid NI contributions for the relevant years. As others have said depending on your situation you may also be eligible for UC.

No one can claim income related ESA any more for new claims, it is Universal credit.

I was overpaid sick pay when in the civil service and while they wanted to claim it back over a few months I refused and said that wasn't possible and instead repaid it over a few years. We were allowed sick pay at pension rate once all sick.pay was exhausted so I don't know if that would be an option?

Sounds really hard op. I hope you feel better soon. I have no advice except if you end up negotiating a repayment plan, make it as long as you need. I was overpaid during maternity leave and HR wanted it all back in one payment on my return. They were really pushy about it. I agreed a 12 month payment plan but was later advised that I would have been entirely within my rights to pay back a fiver a month for a decade.

Sounds really stressful OP. Could be worth seeking advice from CAB, even if it's just to see how long you can extend the repayment for. Hopefully there's room for negotiation as it was firm's error. Long covid really sucks - you have my sympathies. I'm going to have to close my business because of it. To the poster who mentioned HRT, would you mind PMing me with details?

This is a very good point. I can't find the link but there is some research to show that there's quite a significant number of women who have been diagnosed with long Covid when actually they've had Covid but the ongoing symptoms they're suffering are menopausal.

I've had long Covid for 19 months now. I am slowly improving and now back at work on a phased return (my second attempt as my first one failed when too much was demanded from me and I relapsed badly). I definitely have long Covid as I paid privately to see a cardiologist (long Covid specialist) and he sent me for (very expensive) autonomic function tests which confirmed that Covid has badly affected my autonomic nervous system. However, some of my symptoms (especially brain fog and fatigue) never improved or got worse and another specialist said it sounded like menopause. I started on HRT 2 months ago and there's been a definite improvement so it really is worth considering.

I'm in the civil service and I wonder if it's something similar - there was a special way of recording covid absences that was basically treat like special leave (so didn't affect sick pay) but this was only for the infectious period and there was a lot of confusion about when that stopped and became long covid which then started using sick pay - could it be something like that? If it was manager/employer error I would think they'd err on the side of caution and let you keep it if it is only the case of a few months? That's what we'd be advised to do!

Thanks everyone, I am going to try to sleep today but will come back with responses later. I really appreciate all your advice and support