Resignation, sick pay and 3 months' notice

[LeavingWorkQuestion]

Long time MN user but I've changed my username to protect other posts. I'd be so grateful for advice regarding sickness and resigning from my workplace.

I work as support staff in an independent boarding school but could retire in the Spring of 2025, although I haven't yet told my school I want to go. I need to give one whole term's notice - i.e. if I wanted to leave this Christmas, I should have told them in August; if I want to leave at Easter I must let them know before 31st December.

In the meantime I have become incapacitated due to osteoarthritis in one joint. After a consultant's appointment in the summer I was put on a joint replacement waiting list and I am now signed off work until the operation is done. However, the waiting list seems to be months long.

The school only allows me 2 months' full pay while off sick, which I have now had. I will be on Statuary Sick Pay only from November onwards, and this will run out by the time I want to retire. I have also applied for Universal Credit.
So far I haven't let the school know I want to leave because I was told I wouldn't received my contractual sick pay if I'd given notice. Now I've received what I am entitled to, I want to go.

I'm thinking of giving notice in December to say I'm not coming back. Technically I won't be able to 'leave' until the easter because of the notice period although I will remain off sick - I assume I must continue to supply sick notes.

Does anyone from an HR background know what will happen?

Will the school continue to pay SSP or will they stop it if they know I am leaving?

Would they put me on garden leave in order to stop paying it? And if they did this, would this affect any UC I might be entitled to? If I'm on 3 months' notice before retirement, would UC count that as a resignation and so stop payment? (UC will also stop at my retirement age as I would technically be a pensioner in any case).

If I didn't supply sick notes presumably I wouldn't get SSP?

If I got another job in the meantime (say, an online job which I could sit down to do so it wouldn't affect the joint problems) would that be legal or not?

I do not need references from my current job to get work or my pension, so that isn't a problem.

I would be grateful for any advice, thank you.

Not HR but maybe someone more knowledgable will come along in daylight.

Sounds as though you haven't had the operation yet? So your doctor will need to sign you off again and continue to do so until you have been operated on.
Once you move to SSP you will need benefits to top up. No reason not to apply for that now.

Eventually medical retirement or regular retirement if the operation hasn't arrived. If you are operated on, what's the recovery period?

I don't know if the likely return to work date is months away due to the waiting list and recuperation period, if your work would consider medical retirement now and you then move to a different sort of benefit. In my experience it's not usually given before 6-12 months have elapsed unless someone is terminally ill/life changing event has occurred.

You can always ask for notice to be waived when the time comes esp if eligible for retirement. Not to sound utterly callous but if you are about to retire, and they have cover in place who is working out why would they insist on you returning ? You're potentially at risk of another bout of ill health and therefore another 2 month sick pay. I think you'll find it's an open door

Your fit note can say something like "not able to work unless it is a sitting down role"

@LeavingWorkQuestion what is your notice period from your employer?

SSP is a statutory benefit and your employer is therefore required to pay SSP until your last day of employment. So giving notice should not impact this. If they refuse to pay it, you must be given an SSP1 form which you take to DWP who will pay SSP instead.

What your employer could try and do is end your employment early, but they must follow a lawful process e.g. managing attendance, redundancy etc. As these processes have timelines, including the notice period your employer must give you, it is highly unlikely they would go down this route as you are resigning.

You would have to keep giving fit notes otherwise you would be expected to go back to work.

Does your contract allow working at a second job? If it doesn't (or you need permission and didn't get it) you would be in breach and that would probably be grounds for gross misconduct (and potentially instant dismissal)

It is possible to receive SSP from one job but not another, if your fit note makes that clear that you are only unable to do certain work.

Many thanks for your comments and information.
Yes, it's correct that I haven't had the operation yet and I don't have a date for it either because of the NHS waiting list. Once I do, the recovery time itself is somewhere around 6-8 weeks, so nothing quick.

My job does have cover in place, they've found someone from elsewhere in the organisation. Being a residential school, the job is very full on (50-odd hours a week including nightshifts) although obviously the holidays are long. There isn't an option to move me to another type of role eg. a sitting down one, and I'm deemed too unsafe for myself and for the pupils to be working at all in my current condition (for instance I could make my joint worse by the work, and I am not fit enough to be in charge of pupils especially if I were doing a fire evacuation during a night shift, for example, I would be a dangerous liability rather than a help).

I didn't know about the SSP1 form which can be taken to DWP, that's really useful to know.