Agency shifts while off sick from main job

[Alexxxy]

Any experience or advice please, I am asking for a freind she is off sick with work related stress from her main job can she pick up less stressful agency shifts elsewhere, though she gets SSP from her main job she won’t need it as she will be getting paid by the agency where does she stands with the law re: fraud etc?

Sounds dodgy and morally wrong also

She shouldn't do it! If she is off sick then that means she is off sick for all areas of employment. In my company that would result in a disciplinary and possible termination of contract!!!

Absolutely not. Dismissal if it's NHS.

Morally wrong, if she is off sick then perhaps look for a less stressful job or do permanent agency, if she is a registered professional like a nurse this leads to disciplinary.

"Asking for a friend". That old chestnut!

A reputable agency will ask for and check for her current work reference and can ring her line manager for a reference

If it is NHS absolutely now. I suppose your friend could ask her manager but most managers would take a dim view.

That is not entirely true. Legally you can work at other work provided that the second job hours do not overlap with the hours of the job that you are off sick from. However the employment contract may stipulate that you cannot have another job without permission or that yopu cannot work for someone else whilst off sick.

My question would be if (a) she is off work with work related stress and (b) does not need the SSP, then why does she not resign from the job causing the problem and do the less stressful agency work, thus not claiming SSP at all. The context sounds "off", so yes, it appears that there is something dodgy here. The proposal does not make sense in so far as it is presented.

There is a lot of incorrect advice on this thread.

Being signed off sick from one job does not mean you cannot continue to work for other employers. If the reason you are signed off from one job does not impact the other job, you can continue to work in your second job. The only issue is if your contract for the first job prohibits you from working for anyone else, but that would be an issue regardless of whether you are signed off sick.

Note that, if you have multiple jobs and are signed off sick from one of them, your employer would be on very dodgy ground if they tried to take disciplinary action against you for continuing to work in your other job(s). If they dismissed you, you would have an excellent case for unfair dismissal unless they could show that continuing to work in your second job was delaying your return, or that it showed that your illness was not genuine. They can, of course, dismiss you without problems if you have a second job when your contract prohibits this.

If you have multiple jobs and you are signed off sick from all of them, you are entitled to SSP from each employer. It is not fraud to claim SSP from one job whilst continuing to work in another.