Legal Guide

Sick pay for self employed workers

Are you self-employed? Are you currently ill or injured and unsure what to do next?  Sick pay for self employed workers can be a tricky one.  There are lots of people offering advice, but it is not always clear.  Getting sick pay for self employed work can certainly be confusing.  But you can!

If you head to the DWP health and work website, which is a government run website, you can find out about how to get statutory sick pay (SSP).  Being unable to work due to illness or injury can be extremely stressful at the best of times.  But it can be even more so when you are self employed.  Statutory sick pay for self employed workers can be paid for up to 28 weeks.  If you are incapacitated several times, but with 8 weeks apart for each episode, this will count as one episode. 

You will need to fill in an SC1 form.  This is for sick pay for self employed workers and for those that are unemployed.  Employment and Support Allowance will usually be paid straight away and you can claim instantly. 

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will require you to fill out forms in order to gain the relevant sick pay for self employed workers. However, if you are out of action in your self employed job due to a current contract then you may be eligible to make a claim. 

Losing out due to illness or injury can be a hard pill to swallow when you are self employed.  For example, if you are a self employed builder but have been injured on the job, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.  Sick pay for self employed workers is not something that most self employed people really consider.  But once you are injured and unable to work it will be all you can think about. 

Added stress and financial pressures won’t help to get you back on your feet any quicker.  But having personal injury claim solicitors who understand how sick pay for self employed workers actually works will help to get some money in your bank and to ease that burden.

At Priority Legal we have a team of experts on hand to help you file your case.  Understanding business losses are part of our expertise and we even have forensic accountants and financial experts on hand to make sure that sick pay for self employed workers is understood fairly. 

Written by Jade Williams for Priority Legal


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