Sick pay for self employed

[tomshiell]

I've recently had pretty gruesome surgery in my hip. I'm potentially going to be laid up and off work for at least a month. Does anyone know if I'm entitled to any sick pay, if so how u go about claiming. Many thanks

[Hodge]

If you have been paying your national insurance then you should get some. You get a form from the job center.

 

 

Sent from Hodge's eye phone using the new fancy Arbtalk Mobile App:)

[WorcsWuss]

Ssp is not a lot, less than £100 a week (look up ESA on gov.uk website), the self employed should really consider income protection insurance for this sort of occurrence, combined with critical illness and life insurance.

Be careful though, many policies are a swizz.....

Edited March 8, 2013 by WorcsWuss

[Andy Collins]

I agree with Worcs Wuss, I was off for far too long last year with a gut ache, I qualified for ESA, then a back to work payment. I also had a sickness policy which paid out as well, and critical illness cover. A one of my little problems was acute kidney failure, kidneys being one of the categories of "Critical Illness" I made a claim. Yep, you guessed it I had the "wrong" kind of kidney failure, it was only acute!! The fact that without immediate treatment I would be in a spot of bother was nothing to do with it. When I queried the "Critical" aspect of the cover, you should replace critical with the word terminal. To qualify for pay out, you must be expected to die from your illness. Oh lucky me

It maybe worth considering health insurance even if you're employed, as many employers don't pay out any sickness, and SSP is very little to cope on.

Personal accident and sickness policies are not a business expense and cannot be put against your taxes.

At queries re: getting the correct benefits go to the Job Centre Plus and they will assist you. I found them very helpful and they made sure I got payments that I didn't even know existed.

[tomshiell]

Thanks for the replies. Illness cover would have been great........hind sight is a wonderful thing. I'll have to make my first trip to a job centre then.

[woodyguy]

Not a great situation but take this opportunity to sort it out as soon as you're back and earning better money again. I've paid many many £1000's over the last 30 years on these policies to cover life, critical illness and income protection. Never made a claim but has bought peace of mind. Make sure the policy covers what you need but there are plenty of good policies out there.

[Andy Collins]

I agree, I'm guessing that in total last year I had back out of my insurers more than I've paid in total over 16years. Of course, I could equally have never needed a claim and would have felt it was money wasted, but it wasn't.