Question about employer providing reference to landlord while on sick leave

[LendalLinda]

Hi all,

I am currently on sick leave due to some recent health issues. I've been off for around 6 weeks but am looking to return within the next fortnight.

While I have been off we have been given a month's notice to move out of our current house as the landlady needs her house back due to her personal circumstances.

We have managed to find a new house and we have paid £400 for the reference checks. Part of this check is writing to my current employer to confirm salary, etc.

My question is: will being on sick leave affect the confirmation of employment that my employer provides? Do they even have to respond to this request if for example they have a grudge that I have been off work for the last 6 weeks?

I'm so worried that we will lose out on this new rented property due to my employer not providing a suitable response due to me currently being on long term sick.

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, to add to my original post...

I'm currently only getting SSP around £92.05 per week, but on the application I declared my salary as £16500 (which it is). Will the employee still declare my actual salary and not the SSP amount I'm currently getting?

I have no way of predicting how supportive (or not) your employer is, or if they bear a grudge against you, only you know that.

If they are a supportive employer they should respond to a tenancy reference request in a timely fashion,

If requested to state how much you earn they should give your annual or monthly salary not how much your SSP is, that's just a temporary payment while you're off sick, not your actual earnings.

£400 for referencing? That's a rip off.