My part-time mother's help is ill. What are my sick-pay obligations?

[clumsymum]

She only works 7 to 10 hours a week for me, and our original agreement says I pay her for time-worked. She has been signed off for the next month.

I don't want to seem mean, but I'm having to cancel some work appointments (so losing money) or pay my lovely cleaning lady extra to help out some of the time.

Depends on the agreement you made. If its a verbal agreement then it stands that you pay her for what she works.

Really if you are employing someone you should have basic written terms covering pay, time off, holidays etc. As well as complying with their health and safety by carrying out a risk assessment.

If you don't (and face it most people probably don't when it comes to a few hours a week for cleaning etc, often using a basic verbal agreement and cash in hand) then it usually only gets awkward when something like this happens.

I would suggest you let her know asap that as per your agreement she won't get paid whilst she is off. Be prepared that she may not like it and could resign anyway

No we do have a written agreement, and it does say that I will pay her for HOURS WORKED.

TBH I suspect she may not come back to work anyway. She had blood clots in both lungs, and now they can't get her clotting levels stabilised.

I'm sympathetic, but she did have a full time job too so will be getting SSP from that.

Sounds as if you will be fine then with that. Also, sounds serious too. My dad nearly died of pulmonary embolism and it took a long time for them to stabilise his medication. If she does decide to come back to you following that illnes, make sure she is FULLY fit to carry out all the duties