Chemo for 6 months, employer sick pay for 2....

[happyjack12]

what do people do when the sick pay ends from work?
I've no debts except mortgage luckily.
I know there is statutory sick pay, less than £100 a week.
Is there any thing else ? or do i just have treatment and get into loads of debt? This is worrying me more than the chemo....

I'm sorry to her about chemo and your money worries I'm hopeful someone with more knowledge will be along soon x

Once on SSP you should be able to claim universal credit. Possibly PIP also.

It might be that you feel ok to work.
It sounds a crap situation to be in and hope there's a solution for you.

You might be able to work through chemo. I did. I only felt really grim for about three days each cycle. I think I had a total of 17 days off for surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. The drugs to manage side effects are very good.
It would depend on your line of work, of course and I had to make sure I didn’t go into high risk places at some times in the cycle.

If you have to drop to SSP inly then you need to claim Universal credit to top up your income as long as you don't have savings over 16k. As you are having chemotherapy if you claimed UC you would automatically be granted the LCWRA ( limited capability for work and work related activity ) element which would be paid after 3 months of handing in sick notes to UC. As others have said you may also be eligible to apply for PIP but this largely depends what care needs you have, how chemotherapy is affecting your daily living activities and mobility etc. if you are still off work when SSP ends then if you have paid enough NI contributions over the past few years you can also claim Contributions based ESA ( called new style ESA) but that would be deducted pound for pound from any UC award.

As you have a mortgage do you have critical illness/major illness on your life insurance?

Sadly we have had a few incidences of chemo in extended family, all bar one worked throughout, just taking as hoc days when they felt ill at various points in the cycles

Was just going to ask about critical illness insurance? Also, the cancer charities will be able to give you financial advice.

Was also going to say, you obviously need to speak to your specialist about your own circumstances, what drug regime you're on and ability to work. For our family, H was on 3 week cycles (1st week in hospital, 2nd & 3rd weeks at home, before starting again) and was too ill / immune system too compromised to go into work. He managed a couple of days from home at the end of the 3rd week each time, but wouldn't have been to work.

DH was never fit to do his public facing, physical job during chemo which was on a 2 weekly cycle. Fortunately he had income protection as he had seen colleagues injured at work...

Ask your specialist nurse about a referral to Macmillan money matters (should they be in your area) who can help with the benefits aspect.

I'm currently doing chemo for a brain tumour. It's over 9 months (36 weeks) which combined with the 8 weeks of radio is about year in total. As others have said, you'll likely be able to work during the cycles - how long are they? Your oncologist will likely be able to give you guidance. I'm not working but that's because I've got excellent sick pay (6 months full pay followed by 6 months half pay) although I would still be working due to boredness if I didn't have my baby, who was 6 months when I started and will be 18 months when I finish. I combined the treatment with mat leave so will be having about 18 months off work. We were strongly advised not to put him into childcare until it was over due to the amount of bugs he'd pick up, which even though it was pre covid, is quite a foresight looking back now. Even with a baby in tow it's usually only the 1st week where I really need help, then the 2nd week I can just about manage and have to atm because our planned help from grandparents is no more. From the end of the 2nd week I'm then fine for the next 4 weeks.

If you don't have any debt aside from mortgage then I assume you've also got some sort of savings which would likely mean you're ineligible for UC. I've not looked into PIP, some people I know get it but that's more for the side effects to their "illness" such as seizures rather than the treatment itself. You might also find that there's a charity to help - I was strongly encouraged to apply for grants from a charity who help new mums (with a baby less than a year) or pregnant women. I didn't really need the money but the hospital said I should as I fitted the strict criteria and apparently they struggle to give all of their funding away in some years. So you never know!!

You can have savings up to 16k and still be eligible for UC.

@babyroobs I know, but that's hardly a lot - if you only have your mortgage plus general household bills then you're likely to be saving at least some of your salary each month, which even if you're "only" saving £200 each month, that's £2400 a year... So you've got 16k in savings after about 7 years of doing that... Anyway I said "unlikely" rather than "you won't be"

Hi OP, sorry about your diagnosis and best of luck with your treatment.

Babyroobs and i usually give the same or similar advice on threads like this and I agree with her post.

Do you live with a partner? You didn't mention one so maybe not. But if you do have a partner, their income will be relevant to your UC eligibility.
SSP is £95.85/week. Assuming you're eligible for UC, if you have no partner, no other income and savings under £6k, your UC will be £409.89/month to begin with and then after 3 months, it will go up to £751.81/month. (I've assumed you don't have children but if you do, you will get more.)
Your SSP will be ignored (it's treated as earnings when calculating UC) but if you are on sick leave for more than 28 weeks, your SSP will stop and you will claim new-style ESA instead, which will be deducted from your UC as Babyroobs said.

More info about claiming UC when sick at www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/getting-universal-credit-if-youre-sick-or-disabled/

Consider whether you might be eligible for PIP - see www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/before-claiming/check-you-are-eligible/

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. This is what income protection insurance is for. Do you have any savings?

thank you everyone, posted when having a panicky moment. I'm not allowed to work due to what i do unfortunately.
savings for about 3 months outgoings only.life insurance only pays out if terminal... I'm not yet.
will follow all the advice given,and read through the links. really appreciate your time.
brainstories568 good luck with your treatment

Op I help people going through chemotherapy to claim PIP all the time but it does generally depend a lot on what side effects you get as some chemotherapy regimes are more toxic than others. For many people the side effects will be similar - loss of appetite, severe fatigue, taste changes and the risk of immunosuppression which can cause you to become poorly quite quickly if your blood counts drop. If you need to check your temperature regularly, have a picc line in etc then document all that in the therapies section, and emphasise that someone needs to keep an eye on you as you are at risk of becoming unwell. fatigue can affect all the activities of living that PIP looks at so if you have days where you are so fatigued you struggle to shower or get off the sofa then emphasize that and say how many days it affects you. If you have lost your hair and it is affecting your body image then mention that. If you cannot mix with others because you are at risk of infection and particularly at the moment due to coronavirus then emphasise that and that you cannot go on public transport, if you need to be careful what foods you eat to minimise the risk of infection then mention that. Include as many medical reports with the form as you can, send copies of the macmillan sheets that many hospitals give out listing all the side effects for each chemotherapy drug you are given - send it all in. If you have a Macmillan benefits advice team at your local Oncology centre then see if they can help or the phone line will guide you on how to fill in the form.

@happyjack12 Depending on exactly what it is you do, could you swap to a different role/team for the chemo (and a bit afterwards) where you would be able to continue working?

Your work has to make reasonable adjustments for you, so there could be some office work that you could easily do (for example), just so you've still got a bit of money coming in if all other avenues fail. Speak to your HR team because it's not exactly uncommon to have an employee going through chemo so unless your workplace is very small they will have gone through this before meaning they might have a suggestion that you haven't thought of yet.

Keep in mind that it's a good thing to not be terminal, even if you don't get money :)

babyroobs brainstories568
Thank you, will keep all this in mind, greatly appreciated .