I wonder if anyone can help me please.

I am having an operation next Thursday, and I am going to be off work for 8 weeks. During that 8 weeks, my employer is going to pay me 80% of my wages.

Has anyone been in this situation before?

I would be really grateful for any advice on who to ring etc. to make up for my loss of earnings. Could I claim any benefits?

It’s a good thing that I am going to be getting some wages, but it is a bad time of year to be a lot worse off.

HELP PLEASE!!

:help: :help: :help:

Is that to have some cheddar removed?

Sorry that was uncalled for, have you tried a local citizen's advice bureau?

Do you have anything like mortgage protection etc insurance as that might pay you the rest if you have been signed off by your docs?

You could probably claim income support if 80% of your wages drops you below the IS level.
Otherwise since you're still actually employed I doubt you can claim anything else.

A bit harsh of your employer, does your contract say that they will only pay 80% wages whilst you are off sick?

Is that to have some cheddar removed?

Sorry that was uncalled for, have you tried a local citizen's advice bureau?

Stilton actually Faye:hihi:

I'm having my knee ligaments reconstructed....cos the ones I've got are buggered:(

You could probably claim income support if 80% of your wages drops you below the IS level.
Otherwise since you're still actually employed I doubt you can claim anything else.

A bit harsh of your employer, does your contract say that they will only pay 80% wages whilst you are off sick?

They pay 6 weeks full pay, and the rest of the year at 80%. I've already used the 6 weeks though because of an OP I had in March to prepare for this one.

Check your works sick pay policy cos' the places I have worked haven't reduced income until after about 3-6 months. Unless you have been off work alot this year which means it can all be added up so you have already used up your entitlement ...

Oops sorry I was too late and you have already replied

You could probably claim income support if 80% of your wages drops you below the IS level.

Do you know what the IS level is Cyclone?

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/index.html

Try the above they deal with the benefit sorting etc now.

Try phoning your local Job Centre Plus. My local one is at Staveley and theyre usually pretty good at advising on this sort of thing.

Do you know what the IS level is Cyclone?

fraid not.

Thanks for all your advice guys. Much appreciated.

Income support is family based and you'd probably need to earn £15000 a year or less as a family to qualify (I could be wrong as it might be less)... some Income Support info here (http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Incomesupport/index.html).

Technically your employer doesn't need to pay you any money for sick leave as they will only get SSP from the government (statutory sick pay (http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/statutory_sick_pay.asp)).

There is some information on the jobcentre plus website here (http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Dev_007969.xml.html). However it seems as you're employed you'll be up the creek am afraid.