No sick pay, financial help?

[Wheresmrpenguin]

My dp doesn't get sick pay as he's on probation and just come down with a stomach bug so may need a few days off.

I'm not working yet and his salary doesn't cover the bills so these few days off are going to make things really difficult.

Can we get help in any way? Does ssp cover this? Or is this what he isn't eligible for? He doesn't have any holiday left to take either as he's not been there long enough.

SSP is available from the 4th day off work sick, so there would still be 3 days completely unpaid and SSP is not full pay, it's less than £100 a week.

www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay

Nothing as far as I know. You're expected to have savings to cover shortfalls like this or go without discretionary spending to accommodate it.

Which is unlikely to be realistic if you've always been on a low income, or your income only covers your basic bills, but otherwise, if you have spare money, you need to be putting some aside for this eventuality.

The only thing you can do is to carefully review your budget to make sure you're maximising your income and minimising expenditure to free up spare cash to save. What is your financial situation?

Thankyou, we do have savings. We've not always been on a low income, I got made redundant at the very end of my maternity earlier this year so money has been tight for a while so have been dipping into the savings to top up so they're going down quite quickly now. I'm due to start a new job this month but the wage only just covers childcare fees until and if I earn the additonal bonus. Trying to find work that fits around childcare hours plus pays enough has been extremely difficult but going back into work anyway on advice of people to work towards a higher salary.

Gutted we wouldn't get more help. £100 a week is about 1- 1.5 days salary. We think he'll be going back after 2 days off, although could do with a bit more time ideally.

I can't help with the SSP but I would advise you to check if you're eligible for help towards child care. Even the tax free childcare scheme may make a difference so you aren't just working to pay childcare.

@Wheresmrpenguin

Thankyou, we do have savings. We've not always been on a low income, I got made redundant at the very end of my maternity earlier this year so money has been tight for a while so have been dipping into the savings to top up so they're going down quite quickly now. I'm due to start a new job this month but the wage only just covers childcare fees until and if I earn the additonal bonus. Trying to find work that fits around childcare hours plus pays enough has been extremely difficult but going back into work anyway on advice of people to work towards a higher salary.

Gutted we wouldn't get more help. £100 a week is about 1- 1.5 days salary. We think he'll be going back after 2 days off, although could do with a bit more time ideally.

If you are eligible to make a claim for Universal credit then you should do that as long as your savings are under 16k.