What to do, in order
You cannot work because you are ill
There is a sequence to this, and the second step catches people out because Statutory Sick Pay runs out before the next thing starts paying.
Do these first
Not because they are the most important, but because they run out. Everything further down the page will still be there next week.
Get a fit note and give it to your employer
You can self-certify for the first seven days. After that Statutory Sick Pay needs a fit note, and SSP runs for up to 28 weeks.
Start the next claim before Sick Pay ends
Your Sick Pay stops at 28 weeks. New Style Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit both take weeks to assess, so starting yours in week 24 rather than week 29 avoids a month with nothing coming in.
Around week 24 of being off sick.
Then, when you have a moment
Consider Personal Independence Payment
PIP is not about whether you can work and is not means-tested: it is about the help you need with daily living or getting around. You can get it alongside wages, savings, or any other benefit. In Scotland it is Adult Disability Payment.
Ask your energy supplier for the Priority Services Register
Free, and it means advance warning of planned cuts, help reading a meter, and priority reconnection. Every supplier and water company has to run one.
Check whether your council tax should be lower
There is a disability reduction that moves you down a band if the home has been adapted, and a separate disregard if someone in the home has a severe mental impairment.
What people are not usually told
- PIP is ignored by every means test. Claiming it can also unlock extra amounts in Universal Credit and Council Tax Reduction that are worth more than PIP itself.
- New Style ESA is based on National Insurance you have paid, so savings do not stop you claiming it.
- A severe mental impairment certificate can remove someone from the council tax count entirely, sometimes leaving a household paying nothing at all. Almost nobody is told about it.
Now check the rest of it
The full check runs through more than fifty benefits, discounts and grants against what has changed. It takes about three minutes, it stays in your browser, and nothing is sent to us or to anybody else.
Only the DWP, HMRC, your council or the NHS can decide what you get. This tells you what to ask for.