Statutory Sick Pay?

[kneesofnorks]

I've been absent from my job since August 12th, due to a ruptured ovarian cyst.

I was issued a sick note for 1 week by the hospital on the 15th and have had further one week notes from my GP.

My company doesnt pay occupational sick pay and when i received my salary on Friday it was only for the period 1st -11th of the month, no SSP.

Yesterday I had a letter from HR saying they hadnt received any sick notes so consider me absent without leave and will not be paying me, which stunned me considering the sick notes have all been posted in separately and not even from the same post box!

Ive now got duplicates of the ones issued by my GP and am trying to get a copy of the one issed by the hospital (struggling to get through to the ward on the phone) and am planning to send these by recorded so I have proof that they receive them.

Im also desparately looking for another job, was unhappy there, have been there less than a year (nearing the end of my probation period) and am assuming this is a ploy to get rid of me..

if they dont pay my SSP what do I do? am going to photocopy the duplicate sick notes before sending them as well. obviously its only £81 a week but better than nothing!

Where is your manager in all this? Did you send your sick notes to him/her or to HR? Once you've ensured the sick notes have reached the right person there should be no reason for them not to pay you SSP, the only problem being they don't have to pay it for a period before they were told you were sick.

However presumably even before your sick notes you did ring in sick and tell your manager you were off sick, so there's no question of the employer not being aware that you were off sick rather than AWOL. Sounds like a lack of communication between your manager and HR tbh.

If they don't pay it they must complete a form saying why, and you can take it up with HMRC at that point, there's a helpline.

It won't be any kind of 'ploy' to get rid of you. If you've been there less than a year and are still on probation they don't need to try and force you to resign, they can just dismiss you.

called manager daily for first few days, couldnt get hold of her when i got 2nd and 3rd sick notes, so left answerphone messages. despite this theyre saying in the letter that I havent been in touch, not sure how i could prove I have!

sent sick notes directly to HR (which is based in the office next door to my own) and theyre saying they havent received them

You've not heard back from your manager at all? That's terrible. Can you give them a ring and get them to speak to HR. Sounds like they haven't communicated with HR at all.