Accident - claiming back sick pot

[The Mrs]

One thing that many people forget to claim back in an accident claim against the company is the return of their sick pot (the number of weeks Company Sick Pay entitlement you've accumulated for length of service). When the company admit full, or even partial, liability this CAN be claimed as you could, potentially, suffer a future loss if you don't, especially as offers are made "in full and final settlement".

The easiest way to explain this is to give some examples:

Mrs A has worked for the company for 6 years and has accumulated 6 weeks full pay under the Company Sick Pay allowance. She has an accident at work which results in her having 6 weeks off work. The 6 weeks are covered by her Company Sick Pay and she is paid in full. Her sick pay pot has been used up and now stands at zero. She makes an injury claim and includes the return of her company sick pot of 6 weeks. Three years later her sick pot now stands at 9 weeks (the 6 weeks returned in the claim plus a further 3 weeks). Mrs A then has to have an operation, totally unrelated to her claim, and will be off work for 6 weeks. As she has 9 weeks in her sick pot this will be fully covered by Company Sick Pay.

Mrs B has worked for the company for 6 years and has accumulated 6 weeks full pay under the Company Sick Pay allowance. She has an accident at work which results in her having 6 weeks off work. The 6 weeks are covered by her Company Sick Pay and she is paid in full. Her sick pay pot has been used up and now stands at zero. She makes an injury claim but does not include the return of her company sick pot of 6 weeks. Three years later her sick pot now stands at just 3 weeks. Mrs B then has to have an operation, totally unrelated to her claim, and will be off work for 6 weeks. As she has only 3 weeks in her sick pot she will only receive Company Sick Pay for 3 weeks and will go onto Statutory Sick Pay for the latter 3 weeks.

Mrs A will not suffer a loss because of her injury claim. Mrs B will suffer a loss of 3 weeks full pay, receiving the lower SSP instead.

It may never happen, you might be perfectly healthy with no need to use your sick pot for many years - but if you do need time off sick in the future you should NOT have to suffer a personal loss due to the original injury.

This comes from personal experience. The sick pot was claimed back and it was given.

Recent reports coming in have said that "Tesco don't do this anymore". Please don't fall for this and persist with this part of the claim. Those that have persisted have got their sick pots back.



Any VLH Supporter who needs further help with this is welcome to contact me by email - mrs@verylittlehelps.com.