To not know how on earth anyone survives on SSP?!

[SickandSkint]

About 11 weeks pregnant, had 3 weeks off last month due to hyperemisis.
Obviously will be getting SSP but that means we'll be close to losing £1000. Panicking about how to pay the bills. I will literally be left with minus nothing, what I'll get paid doesn't even cover childcare bills let alone rent/water/gas/ect.
Before a bunch of you jump on here to say we should have savings, yes we should. But we have only just moved to affordable housing and finally in a position we should have something left over at the end of the month. Apart from now..

Are you renting? I dunno if you can get any housing or council tax benefit when on sick

What sort of job do you do? Could you haul your arse into work and just sit there?

I honestly don’t know, but if your employer only pays SSP then is your maternity package might ch better - I’d be worried about that tbh. I suppose you won’t have the childcare bills when you are on maternity leave though.

You can't live on SSP. As far as I can judge, it's to provide 1000 calories per day for 4 people living in a wheelie bin.

*any not might ch

Contact your CAB, you maybe entitled to Housing Benefit and Income Support.

I honestly don’t know, but if your employer only pays SSP then is your maternity package might ch better - I’d be worried about that tbh

Without wanting to freak you out even more, this would be my worry also. Is it possible that you might be entitled to tax credits?

I wouldn't work for an employer who didn't pay sick pay without taking out employment insurance.

I'm currently having four months off due to major surgery and I'd be I'll if I had to worry about money as well.

It won't help you now but please look into covering yourself better when you do return to work.

Do you have a partner?

What is their income like?

If your combined income is low, you may be entitled to Tax Credits

We managed for 6 months. It was really really hard. We got tax credits and our rent is low and we didn't use childcare.

I was off sick on SSP for 6months it was hell. Not pregnancy related. My council housing benefit was based on your last 3m pay slips so even when I was saying yes I could afford
Rent on X. For the next 3months I can Bearly feed myself. But they would not budge. After 3m showing pay of £280 a month finally let me claim but never got the debt back took me A Long time to Get back in the black.

Can you get referral from GP or midwife to food bank? That spare some cash for gas and other bills.
Can you ring tax credits and ask if
You are due anything extra?

The OP is unlikely to be entitled to tax credits for a short absence unless her partner's income is very low as the income rules are annually.

However, if they are in a Universal Credit area, they may be entitled to that, because if they take UC away in months that people earn more than expected (like was in the news in December that weekly paid people would lose out because there was five Fridays in December) it should follow that if anyone earns less than expected in any given month, they may be entitled to UC for that month if their income is low enough.

But no, it's not possible to live on SSP and you are expected to have savings, employer sick pay, live on partners earnings, borrow from family or credit, or do without/get into debt.

Someone I know nearly died in Nov, he was seriously ill in hospital. He's still sick but is on SSP so has told the doctor he's going back to work at the end of this month. He's on a low income job but has no other choice

I agree that I’d also be worried about your maternity package from a company that only pays SSP and how you’re going to live on that for however long you have off

I’m fortunate to work for a company that has decent sick pay, but when I returned from long term sick, my main concern was that I could live on half pay once my entitlement to full pay ran out. And half pay was still more generous than SSP.

I have no idea how people are supposed to live on SSP. Well obviously, they’re not really. Like UC, it’s designed to be unsustainable.

My main concern was that I couldn't live on half pat

You can't. Like PP have said, it's expected you have some savings to tide you over. Can you afford a small (non payday) loan?

This is the sort of situation that leads people to becoming homeless very very swiftly. One bad month of health in these jobs without proper sick pay, if you have no family or partner support, and you're behind and can't pay the rent or mortgage.

Not to judge as it's too late now but this is why I/we have started saving now (well, six months ago) in order to have a decent buffer for trying for a baby next year. I know I'm fortunate in being able to afford to save, and that not all pregnancies are planned, but it seems a risky decision to add to your family if things are so tight one bad month can cause such a disaster.

I've been there in the past (the no sick pay thing and severe ill health) and ultimately had to use credit cards and loans to live on while I tried to get better and back to work. Ended up bankrupt as I couldn't get well fast enough.

SSP is £90ish a week, SMP is £140ish (with first 6 weeks being higher) and that extra £50 is a big difference. But yet SSP is shit.

SSP and JSA is shit.

It should for a short amount of time be linked to what you used to earn. Unless you get topups your fucked.

You have my sympathy. It is very very hard to survive on SSP. That is all I get, which is why I go to work ill, and infect people.
And to those saying they would never work for a firm that only gave SSP, jobs are not plentiful in some places. We still have to work.