Going off work sick and UC

[Tiredsinglemamma]

I am a single parent to 12 year old twins. I work in a stressful call centre job. I just cannot do it anymore. I have gone off sick today as I’m suffering with chronic sinus post covid (but also work stress - my brain just freezes when I get there lately but I haven’t mentioned that to anyone).

what can I do? If I quit will my UC top up stop? If I’m signed off I only get SSP how would that work with UC? I’ve been job hunting for 6 months now and only had one interview. I have a degree in maths, a bit of accounts experience, but working in a call centre the last year after being made redundant from part time accounts told. I work 9-3, struggle with child sickness, school holidays the twins basically stay home alone on devices with a pile of snacks for 7 hours. I feel sad for them in the holidays. My manager is incompetent. I’m unwell, stressed, I need a way out. Any advice welcome.

I can't help re UC. But as a single parent who had to leave my then 12 year home alone throughout the lockdowns I totally understand. I went self employed 4 years ago using my professional qualification and it's the best thing I've ever done. My work/life balance is so much better and I now work from home mostly. I carried on working part time until I had enough clients. Could you use your skills to do something like that?
Even though mine is 17 now he's at a really critical point in his life making decisions about his future, exams, uni applications, job applications etc. I love that I'm here when he wants a chat after school and we have lunch together some days as his school is 5 mins from home. It really has made a huge difference.

SSP is still counted as earnings on UC so you would still continue to benefit form the work allowance whilst off sick. You will obviously still be a lot worse off overall though. If it turns into long term sick then you would be assessed for work capability. If you quit then you would just get your UC amount ( total of your elements), so would be even worse off. It would be better to exhaust your SSP rather than just quit.

I would love to set up as self employed and work from home. I have a book keeping qualification and admin experience and payroll experience. I just don’t know how this would work with UC as I receive £700 a month plus my wage of £1,500 so could not live without either. The twins father died a few years ago so I do not receive maintenance and have no other support.

Minty25 would I need to let UC know if I was off unwell, my earnings would drop from £1,500 a month to £118 a week. Or would they just class it as earnings (although would take me under the threshold of the £952 a month I have to earn under my work commitments).

They would get your ssp details through HMRC so it would be just a drop in earnings. They may need you to submit sick notes to them though so that you are not called in for work coach appointments.

If you were just receiving SSP then your UC will go up as you will have less deductions for earnings.

I do have sick notes I could upload if needed. But at the moment I’ve still been working as they are short staffed and my manager makes me feel guilty if I’m off unwell. But I’m not sure how much longer I can carry on. The sinus is so bad I’ve constant headaches and am hardly sleeping despite two courses of antibiotics post covid