Statutory Sick Pay and benefits

anxious_and_worried

I have been off work for 3-4 months now suffering from a number of conditions. The underlying condition being stress/depression. After my first month out I received reduced pay and realised that at some point I had been put on statutory sick pay.  The next month I received approx £450, which (as I am sure you can imagine) does not constitute enough to cover my rent alone. Then I received my reminder for £150 council tax.  I was only able to survive due to savings that are now almost entirely depleted.
Is there any assistance/allowance that I may claim while this goes on?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

Sam_Alumni

Hi anxious_and_worried

Welcome to the community and thank you for sharing, I am moving your post to the Ask a benefits advisor category.

You can use the benefits calculator here to help you figure out what you could claim.

Do also get involved in the community, chat to others, read through other posts, we have a great community here of people in so many different situations.

Hope this helps you

Sam

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi anxious_and_worried 

I would echo the advice already provided by Sam in her post above and advise you to post back on here if you have any difficulties with the benefits calculator or if there's anything you're not sure of. 

From what you have said, a reduction in your income could lead to an entitlement to housing benefit for help with your rent and also to a reduction in your council tax. For both of these you would apply to your local authority/council and quite often you can do this online so it's also worth having a look at their website too. Having said that, the benefits calculator should identify this and hopefully point you in the right direction.

Best wishes

Paul