Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

[Johnboy007]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

Don't ask me, cos I will not tell you.
That's what you get for slagging off the NHS mate.
If you can afford to travel to another country for treatment, then why don't you pay for it here in the U.K

[des8]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

For the purposes of determining eligibility for statutory sick pay, s.14(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 allows employers to set their own rules on what evidence they require of employees’ illness. There is no restriction in the legislation on accepting foreign medical certificates.
An employer should treat a medical certificate , even from a doctor outside the UK as evidence of illness,(unless there are reasons to suspect it is fraudulent, or being used fraudulently.
If the employee provides a non-UK medical certificate for a period when they were abroad the employer should get this translated if necessary.

Certainly whilst you are still employed & your employer is paying 1st class NIC I THINK you should be getting SSP, but you do have to convince your employer that you qualify.

Whether or not your employer can terminate your employment for being sick, or for not producing a UK based "Fit note", will depend on a number of things and I will leave commenting upon that aspect to those on this site with more knowledge.

[stevemLS]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

This is misleading. It is a bit convoluted though.

s14 of the SSAA 1992 empowers the Secretary of State to make Regulations (law) about medical evidence. These started with The Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1985 which have been amended several times.

However, they define doctor as a "registered medical practitioner". The Interpretation Act 1978 defines registered medical practitioner as a person fully registered in accordance with the Medical Act 1983.

The Medical Act 1983 defines a person as being registered by the GMC.

So, only a doctor registered with the GMC is able to issue a sick note for SSP purposes. A doctor is unable (save in very limited circumstances, which don't apply here) to issue a sick note if he has not examined the patient. That is a requirement of the Regulations I have already mentioned.

So, your foreign doctor cannot issue a sick note that will be accepted for SSP.

[des8]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

All these sites say you can, if you qualify. get SSP whilst abroad, and foreign medical notes should suffice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...47/dwp1020.pdf
http://www.peninsulagrouplimited.com...s-sick-abroad/
http://www.jobcentreguide.org/claimi...utory-sick-pay
http://www.safeworkers.co.uk/sicknessrights.html

Confusing ain't it

[stevemLS]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

I've given you the statutory reasoning. I prefer to rely on legislation.

If it is practice to may payment in excess of what the law requires, that is another matter.

[des8]

Re: Statutory sick pay and medical treatment in abroad....Possible?

Wasn't disagreeing with you, honest.
Just pointing out that common practice doesn't always go the way it seems it should (if that makes sense:tinysmile_hmm_t2