Can a zero hour agency worker get signed off with stress?

[Twilightimmortal]

I am really struggling with my mental health at the moment and have been on Sertaline for 2 months aswell as cbt.

I still feel unwell and anxious. Work is a struggle and I fight myself to not cancel a shift.

I feel that my GP would recommend I was signed off sick but as an agency worker how would that work?

I feel that my agency may just let me go or not give me any work after.

Please advise.

You don't get signed off as a zero hours worker, you can explain why you don't want anymore shifts though but you aren't obligated to work

I think unfortunately they’d just cut your hours to zero. That’s part of the issue with zero hour contracts. I’m sorry, it sounds really hard. Can you cut your hours for a couple of weeks to rest & recuperate?

This advice is not entirely correct. Zero hours workers are entitled to SSP (and to be "signed off") like anyone else, and their eligibility is based on average previous pay. www.netlawman.co.uk/ia/zero-hours-contract-statutory-sick-pay

It is potentially unlawful for the employer to cancel / not offer further shifts to avoid paying SSP if someone is eligible - again, the previous shift pattern can establish in law that an employer has deliberately changed employment patterns to evade their legal responsibilities.

Whether or not it is worth doing that given that the end result would very probably be the loss of the job eventually is another matter; and whether SSP is worth fighting for, with the added stress of having a fight on your hands if the employer tries to wriggle out of it, is also a factor to consider. Other available benefits might make it more realistic to not go off sick, but to just tell the employer that you are taking a break from work for a period of weeks and not to offer any shifts. Although, of course, there is no guarantee that they will ever offer work again if you do that.

Thats what I feared. Thank you for your replies.

But isn't that telling? I don't know why you feel the way that you do right now, but if you "fear" lack of support from your employer - albeit on zero hours contracts - then perhaps this is the time to rethink your future employment? Even zero hours workers have rights. And although it isn't common in my experience, zero hours employers are not all bad either. Zero hours can really suit some people and some employers, and if you are in that fortunate position it can work well as a relationship. But it sounds like that isn't where you are. And insecurity of employment definitely feeds poor mental health. Could you start to think about other avenues of employment that would offer better terms than zero hours?