SSP
SSP can anyone help me?
I have worked for a very large, global, mobile telephone company for 12 years, I have achieved good gradings and hardly ever had anytime off sick and quite regularly achieved 100% attendance records. (I always thought if I didn’t abuse the system it would be there for me if I needed it).
Well 13.12.05 received the awful result, emergency mastectomy 21.12.05 and chemo started 14.12.05 with rads to follow.
Last week received a letter advising pay finishes end of this month and then straight onto SSP at £68.20 per week thereafter as long as sick is continuos. So in other words cant even go back on good weeks, unless i use holiday for chemo week and keep everything crossed that I dont pick up any infections 2nd or 3rd week in a large open plan office where bugs spread fast.
My manager fought for full time pay as they have used their discretion in the past but apparently things have changed and policy is policy.
Its a stress I didn’t need and I am going to e.mail my dissapointment and want to include some facts on other employers i.e. my father diagnosed last july, works for a much smaller company who have topped his SSP to his basic wage to date.
Any info would be appreciated, I dont think they will change their mind but it will make me feel more confident in responding in a business like fashion that they have treated me.
Thank you
Debbie
—ssp —hi debsy,
We have been discusing this in another posting(newly dx under practical advice) and it looks like it varys from employer to employer,as i have mentioned on other posting mine has been very good and has so far paid me full wages because of they say its not a normal day to day illness.
I have been off now for 20 weeks,weather they stop paying me at 28 weeks i don`t know yet so i might have to then claim incapacity bennifit,you can claim working tax credit along side ssp as long as your with-in a certain amount.
It has amazed me how calouse some employers are.bluebell.
A bit of adverse publicity? You probably won’t feel up to this…but a story in the press about a big global company treating a cancer patient so badly might help your cause.
Sadly if you have run out of the sick pay you are entitled to under your employment contract I guess your employer can act as dirty as they like, but I’m sure they wouldn’t want your story picked up in a tabloid.
My experience at work couldn’t have been more different. I had only been in my job 5 months when diagnosed but had accrued sick pay rights of 6 months full pay 6 months half pay from previous employment (in the new University sector.) In fact I probably had well over a year off in all and was always paid on full pay. I was also allowed to work short weeks, odd days during chemo…my line manager left it to me to decide how much I wanted to do.
I couldn’t have been treated better (though the people who were left to cover my job had a rough time…but that’s another story.) Theres’ a lot to be said for the public sector.
I hope you are able to put some pressure on your employer to change their mind.
Best wishes
Jane
Sick Pay I was very worried about my sick pay deal from work, but I have realised since that whilst not as good as some on full pay it is a lot better than others get!
I had to spend a week on half pay at the very beginning (which is the stick they use to get the malingerers back to work) but since then it is 3/4 pay less the SSP for 52 weeks. After that nothing though, which is why I am desperate to get this over and done with before the year runs out! I presume I will go on to Incapacity when the SSP runs out.
There was no point going back in on my good days however as it would mess their system up - I would have had to take chemo times as holiday or unpaid or get a sick note every time and so go back to the beginning each time - they don’t normally pay anything for the first 3 days of any absence. I would have had to guarentee to be able to do enough hours in order to come out the same as the 3/4 pay and on current showing I couldn’t have done that.
One thing that has made a difference though is to claim on the payment protection which you pay anyway for - bank loan, overdraft, credit card and mortgage. It takes time and the forms you have to complete are never ending but the amounts they are paying out has not only taken a load of my mind - they have probably made up most of the difference between the 3/4 pay and the full pay.
Whilst their system at work is a bit unfair in places I can’t complain and so far my immediate bosses have been very supportive. My only worry is that there are some redundancies going on there at present but hey! I am employment protected aren’t I? And I don’t like the thought of someone else not doing my job in the same way as I do…but I just have to live with that. They are always telling me they miss me anyway!
Hope that helps.
Linda
Linda
SSP Hi Debbie,
a few thoughts:
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Is how you’ve been treated match what it says in your contract of employment? If they’ve changed the procedure, did they give proper notification to all employees?
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Do you have any union reps you can ask for advice? Even if your employer doesn’t recognise trade unions, it may be possible to track down people who used to be union reps in previous jobs who might be able to offer advice.
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Picking up Jane’s point about shaming them. Global companies often go on about being “the employer of choice”. They usually benchmark their benefits packages against companies competing for the same calibre of employees and this includes sick pay as well as other stuff like pensions, cars, private medical insurance. You could try asking them to show you how they compare with other companies. They are bound to know. Perhaps your colleagues could back you up on this as it’s in their interests as well. Stopping your pay and leaving you on SSP only after less than 4 months isn’t normal for a global company.
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Is your company’s Occupational Health Department helping you? It’s their job to help you to continue working if possible and to help you develop a realistic plan to enable you to work between chemo sessions, if you are well enough.
It’s lousy that you are having to worry about your job and finances as well as your health, but I hope some of this helps.
PS I will just add, if you are collecting facts on other companies to present to your employer.
I work in the Children’s Records Office of a privately run residential school for children with educational and behavioural problems and the reason that the sickness policy there starts off in a harsh way (ie no pay for first 3 days, half pay for next week) is to discourage the care staff from throwing so many sickies. The fact that after that the 3/4 pay kicks in for the next year acknowledges the long term sick like myself.
As office staff and in this situation I was able to get the 3 days rule waived but that was all.
Their scheme is underwritten by an insurance company.
Don’t know if that helps.
Linda
major delays in incapacity I had my mascectomy on Jan 10 and have just had my 3rd chemo. I have not been back to work and despite having claimed for my benefits 7 weeks ago have not had a penny yet. I will have to go back to work at some point as Im self employed, but mean while things are getting a bit tight. Any ideas who I can phone and harrass. All the staff at the benefits office are way behind a mountain of paper work due to the new system so it seems a bit unfair to shout at them.
Having never been on benefits before Im feeloing Im at the back of the q as Im not already in the system. My rads will start soon so my ability to work will possibly be even less. I need this money to help free mony up from the business to employ staff.
Information on benefits Hi all
I’ve just posted this in the ‘work and a medical’ thread, but it is useful here too I think.
You might find this publication from BCC helpful. It gives lots of easy to understand information on this difficult area. It also includes useful contact details breastcancercare.org.uk//docs/
breast_cancer_and_benefitsjan_06_0.pdf
Best wishes
BCC Host