CM asking, could I be entitled to sick pay?

[Monroe]

I have found out this week that I am likely to need surgery and this could happen as early as next month.

Recovery times vary but I know I will be on crutches for at least the first 2 weeks and that full recovery can be up to 4-6 months although I obviously won't know until after the surgery how quickly it will be for me and I am hoping to be able to return to work as soon as possible.

I had assumed that being self employed I wouldn't be entitled to any sick pay however a friend pointed out that I may be able to claim something from the government as I have been paying my NI contributions. Does anyone know if this could be the case and if so where I could find out any more information or how to claim?

Thanks

Hi , 4 years ago I had to take time off from childminding for an operation and I claimed E.S.A.(Employment Support Allowance)

www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance

It was an opreation on my shoulder and recovery was supposed to be 2-3 months, with no lifting for several weeks and then no heavy lfting for a certain amount of time.

There was at the time (not sure what it is now) had to had x amount of full years of NI contributaions paid.
Before I had my operation, I checked with NI contrubutations to make sure I had paid enough in and was told yes.

However when I made the claim, I had a letter telling me I had not. Another phone call to NI peeps, then advised to call E.S.A - it was a computer error and yes I would be recieiving E.S.A- its not a lot but better than nothing.

Be prepared(unless things have changed), its not all straighforward, even with a long sick note of your GP - i had an 8 week one to start with. Within 2 weeks of being off sick, I recieved a long winded book to fill in with lots of questions regarding what I could and could not do. Then not long after sending it back, getting a letter to ring a department back to arrange a medical to see if I was or not fit for work. If I was deemed capable of ''any work'' the ESA payments would stop.

Before I rung them back , I had seen my GP and gave him a date I was intending to return to work and gave the date to the ESA.
I did ring them, telling them I was returning to work and had no intention of staying on the sick long term. Just after my DS1 was born I was claiming incapcity benefit and I had been for these medicals , so knew what they were all about and knew that even though I had had an operation, I would not pass the criteria to carry on claiming even though I knew by returning back to work when I did would cause me problems and 4 years on I still have not recovered properly :(

They still gave me a date for a medical but to be fair, they gave me a date a week after I said I was returning (as it was not that far off) and all I had to do was cancel the appointment as I did start back.
Also at the same time I had the jobcenter trying to arrange appointments for me to go to see an adviser to see if they could help me back to work!!!

I had to give all my families notice as apart from one they couldnt wait to see when I was ready to return -which I did really understand.

I did have one family, who with the help of their family,waited for me to return back to work.

Sorry for the negative long post -just wanted to prepare you just incase things are still the same claiming ESA.

Good luck with the operation

almaradlu, thank you for that. I will have a look at ESA and maybe give them a call first too just to check if I would be able to claim anything.

I guessed it wouldn't be exactly straightforward though

I am actually pretty quiet work wise at the moment which I had been worrying about but I am now thankful for as it means I won't be letting lots of parents down if I have to take a while off.

Thanks again

I have claimed ESA twice in the past two years. Last year I had surgery and was off work for 3 months and this year I broke a bone in my foot & was off for a month. It was straightforward as I answered all the questions over the phone (took 45+ minutes though!) and then just had to sign the document they sent me. I did get asked to go for a medical but like the PP it was after my return to work date so I just called & cancelled. I didn't get any hassle about going for jobs etc although a few years ago when I claimed the ESA predecessor Incapacity Benefit as I was off following surgery for nearly 6 months I did get asked to attend the job centre but again I was back at work beforehand.
Best of luck with your surgery!

I rang the helpline earlier today and she said once I got the date for the op they can start processing the claim but until then she couldn't say if I would get anything or not. But it seemed pretty straightforward so at least I know who to call and the info I need when the time comes.

And thanks for the well wishes

Monroe, if you contact the National insurance contributions department(telephone number will be on the yearly letter they send us with the breakdown of NI payments ), they will tell you if you have made enough NI payments. They were ever so helpful and nice when I contacted them :)

Hope all goes well :)

I'll do that thank you