Without giving too much details away I've got a friend who could really do with an extend time away from work both for their own benefit (poor physical and mental health) and also to look after ill elderly parents. They have already been out of work for a few weeks for these reasons and are worried they may eventually lose their job because of it.
Is there anyway they can keep their job secure and/or receive incapacity benefit and carers benefit to help them out as they are not currently? How difficult is it too recieve this through the benefits system? My friend lives in Scotland. Thanks very much for any help.
Also sorry for asking
Also sorry for asking questions like this on Libcom, but people here are way more clued up on benefits and employability rights than me so hope its ok.
For people on full time
For people on full time permanent contracts they should be getting statutory sick pay for 28 weeks.
Apart from this it really depends what the contract of employment says.
I no longer know about things like income support etc but they should not be getting into Job Seekers Allowance stuff if they want to keep their job.
Sick leave is in your
Sick leave is in your contract, statutory sick pay is very low iirc.
Work cannot fire you for being sick, but they can end the contract after a while, if they do things right. Depending on your contract they might try to pay you off. In which case you don't have to pay tax on it and don't share the info with any benefits people. It is a severance package, not salary, so it doesn't count unless you already have money and it puts you over a threshold. Your friend probably doesn't earn that much but might have savings.
If your friend does negotiate a severance deal then they can also insist on an agreed reference as part of it. Something that says that they were off sick due to stress and agreed to end the contract to allow them to look after their parents...
That's about all that I can tell you. Also any meetings with management take a union rep if you can and make sure to take notes.