Can I still claim UC while signed off work sick?

reanascott,

In UC both you and your husband have what is called 'conditionality' - that's what you have to do to get UC. You should both have signed a claimant commitment. Your husband's might be completely different to yours. If he has limited capability for work-related activity, he won't have to do anything. Your conditionality could depend on lots of things such as whether you are a carer for your husband (if he gets PIP daily living or DLA middle or high rate care component), or whether you have children and how old they are.

If your claimant commitment has conditions about working/looking for work (it may not, depending on your caring responsibilities), then these are suspended for the first 14 days of a sick note - so you've done the right thing by handing it in to both UC & your employer. After the first 14 days it is up to your work coach. As long as you keep UC informed of any changes, I wouldn't expect you to have to do anything more, but make sure you check with your work coach. You can do this via your online account if you have one. Because it's UC, both you and your husband are making the claim & you have responsibilities to report changes that affect you.

If you get SSP, it is is treated as earnings, but because it is probably less money than you usually get from your employer, your UC may be more than usual. If you don't get SSP (maybe because you don't earn enough), your UC will adjust to take account of that. What matters is how much you are paid by your employer within the assessment period. 

So to answer your question, yes you can still claim UC and yes you should still get some money this month, but how much it will be will depend on how much you got paid in the assessment period which ends before your UC pay date.

Hope that helps!

Will