Hi there, I’m in such a panic over this.
I am married with two children, my wife and I are separated, I now live on my own and my children live with their mother (my wife).
I currently pay child maintenance, however I have been on long term sick receiving payment protection via my employer and a private insurance company, this payment protection is coming to an end soon. The medical review from the insurance company still suggests I’m not well enough for work, so I have been given two options, I can return to work which will require a lengthy medical examination by their own company Dr’s and possibly arrive at the same conclusion, or they have offered me the option of a settlement agreement and we go our own ways.
If I take the settlement agreement, what does this mean for us?, I will be unemployed so what does that mean for my wife, my kids and myself? .. I just have no idea what will happen, or if there are any benefits either myself or my wife can sign up to?, How payments work going forward?, What if I can't get another job if my own Dr supports the opinion of my private insurance assessment?, I’m just lost and confused.
I would like to point out, I have logged into the official CMS '.gov.uk' site with my own account and sent messages asking for help, but I have heard nothing, they are so busy you can't even call them anymore (well you can, but looking at 5+ hours!).
Any assistance would be much appreciated, just any snippet of advice so I can start piecing this together.
Thanking you all in advance.
Kev
Hi,
If you are long term sick, I suggest you have some kind of evidence to back this up, and let CMS know. If you received some kind of state benefit, should be ok.
@bill337 When you say evidence, you mean the insurance company that's been paying my long term sick pay for 2 years? And my employer who has my sick leave recorded?, If so, then yes, I have no issues with evidence.
I have contacted the CMS via the website, I have had nothing back, you see I still have time to think about it, so I've not changed my income or anything as I'm still employed.
As for state benefit, I claim nothing, my sick pay was by a private insurance company, a health benefit I paid for via the company I work for.
So, I'm still not sure from your reply what options are open to me?
@totallylost hi, tomorrow you can try log into your self service account and try the web chat option to talk to CMS, and you can tell them of your situation. Or if you have time later, you can try calling them- 0800 171 2345
If you become unemployed, then I assume you would start to claim jobseekers allowance, at which point, you tell CMS this and they would drop your liability to £7 per week for child maintenance.
@bill337 Hi there, yes I tried that a few times, I have now spoken to a representative via the chat service, so I got some answers thank you.
@actd Thanks for the message, that's great thank you, I managed to get some answers today thank goodness, thank you anyway 🙂