Being forced to find work or else

cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
hi. i have a huge, huge dilemma on my hands. the government has stopped my Income and Support Allowance, and now I have nothing coming in. I have appealed against this decision as I am simply way too unwell to work full-time. It is amazing (and incredibly unfair) that my benefit has been stopped as I have been signed off as unfit to work by my doctor now for the last 3-4 months so that I could keep receiving my ISA. I am also an outpatient of a mental health unit and go for 'check-ups' every 6 weeks.

I am now faced with the terrible situation of having to find a job in the next 4 weeks or else probably loose everything - my partner, our rented home and my dog!! Have asked my older sister for help as she offered it a while ago, but now she's backtracking and saying that she can only afford a one-off payment of half of our next month's rent! Makes me mad as she is making quite a lot of money and can afford to take holidays, but not afford to help out her desperate brother!! Her husband (my brother in law) is a university lecturer and must be making well over £30k a year so this makes it even worse in my eyes. It has made me feel very let down, very let down indeed. My parents have helped pay the rent for the last 3 months, but I simply cannot keep asking them for help as it's not like they are loaded and I feel very guilty. So, I have to bite the bullet now and try and find work - will probably end up working in a pikey factory with a load of bullies and this will obviously make things much worse for me health wise. Believe me, I've worked alongside some real morons before it seems like factories and warehouse breed this type of moron.

Wish me luck, I am going to need it just to get through this all. It's a complete and utter nightmare being made to work when you have bad mental health. It's not right, it's not nice and yet the government don't seem to understand or give a damn about my situation.
 
HH

HH

Well-known member
Hi

Sorry to hear of your situation. I know what you mean about warehouse and factory jobs-believe me I've had a lot of those jobs in my teenage years and they suck. How about doing a night shift at a supermarket or something, try finding a job that involves less contact with lots of people.

good luck with it all
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
Thanks HH. Good advice but trying to find that type of work in the timescale I have and with the economy as it is at present is a long shot - especially as I live in quite a rural location.
 
F

FOR REAL

Banned
on what grounds have they stopped your benefit?
is not up to your doctor.
how did your appeal go?
if your doctor is a pain in the arse, change your doctor (gp), your entitled to do that.
some doctors forget that they work for us!
i had a doctor for a couple of weeks, a while back and he was a fkn arse, i got rid of him quickly
my new gp is great with me
i dont think anyone should be allowed to force you back to work, when its clear that its not going to help you
 
F

FOR REAL

Banned
my dad kind of works and kind of doesnt!
anyway heres a story
my dad went to sign on at the dole
the woman behind the desk said "have you looked at the board"
my dad said "what board"
she said "the board over there to look for a job"
my dad said "no"
she said "your supposed to be actively seeking work"
my dad said "ahl tell you what, you go over to that board, find me a job and i will take the job"

that was it, end of story!
none of they jobs existed in the first place!!
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
hi dreamer. they have stopped my benefit as the capability for work assessor felt that I was fit for work - I can't believe he came to this conclusion. I probably gave the impression I was coping ok at the time he interviewed me, but you know what it's like you can seem ok when you're far from being ok.

The appeal is in progress and it could take a few months before they look at it. I will be required to go to a tribunal to state my case. Anyway, I may well have work by then as the benefit is not anything like enough for us to pay rent and so on.
 
Remus

Remus

Moderator
Staff member
go to citizens advice, write to your MP (or visit thier surgery), maybe visit your GP and tell them whats happened.

If you get signed off you should be on incapacity benefit (or its new equivalent)

also people with more serious mental health issues like bi-polar or schizophrenia can get DLA
 
F

FOR REAL

Banned
Remus said:
go to citizens advice, write to your MP (or visit thier surgery), maybe visit your GP and tell them whats happened.

If you get signed off you should be on incapacity benefit (or its new equivalent)

also people with more serious mental health issues like bi-polar or schizophrenia can get DLA
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i agree,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
hi. I'm afraid it's not as simple as that. if a capability for work officer think you are well enough for work, then this automatically overides anything your doctor has said. i've appealed against the decision, so for the time being my benefit has been reinstated. i will need to go to a tribunal in the not too distant future and am waiting for a confirmation letter of this. The letter will tell me what things I need to bring along in support of my case i.e. a statement from my doctor, meds etc.

Unfortunately benefit alone is just not paying the bills, so I still have to find a job whether that is right for me or not. :(
 
Remus

Remus

Moderator
Staff member
I've had a tribunal along these lines, get to your local CAB and inform them, they have specialist solicitors to help with your case, try get one to attend the tribunal with you as they are quite a grilling.

There are schemes to help those on Incap benefit back to work and there are bonuses, another helpful thing is that if you have a long term mental health illness, you register that with your council and they are obliged to help you in many ways
 
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recluse

recluse

Well-known member
I'm sorry to hear about that cobalt. I'm really fortunate that i still live at home rent free as i am unemployed too.
 
Danfalc

Danfalc

Banned
Remus gives some good advice,I've had to go to a tribunal myself a few times when they tried forcing me back to work.I was gob smacked the first time when I went unprepared,they had a lawyer and a mental health professional who's job it was to rip me to bits.

The CAB are brilliant,they will help you with whatever forms you need to fill in and its just gives your claim that extra clout.Also look it up on the internet..they score you on a points system,if you know how that point system works it's a bit easier to know how to answer their questions.
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
Remus said:
I've had a tribunal along these lines, get to your local CAB and inform them, they have specialist solicitors to help with your case, try get one to attend the tribunal with you as they are quite a grilling.

There are schemes to help those on Incap benefit back to work and there are bonuses, another helpful thing is that if you have a long term mental health illness, you register that with your council and they are obliged to help you in many ways
Click to expand...

I have been on a scheme that supposedly 'helps' you get back into work. However, I have found this to be not very helpful as at the end of the day you still have to contact employers to try and get a job and are faced with the dilemma of whether or not you should mention your mental health problems.

I wouldn't know how to contact the council and what help is available. It's not like I could just ring them up and say that I have a mental health issue and ask them what help is available for me. I am not that confident and would worry about who I was talking to and what their reaction would be. It would be well and truly outside of my comfort zone doing this that's for sure.

I think the CAB idea is good, but I would again still worry about what to say as I am NOT comfortable talking about my mental health issues with a complete stranger.
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
recluse said:
I'm sorry to hear about that cobalt. I'm really fortunate that i still live at home rent free as i am unemployed too.
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hi recluse, I am sorry you have lost your job. Are you looking for work and if so how are you finding the challenge of this in the current economic climate?
 
cobalt_bluester

cobalt_bluester

Well-known member
sabbath said:
work sux, but being unemployed is 100 times worse
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this is true, but being employed can sometimes be worse than being unemployed if you worked for a nightmare boss who tore shreds into you, or one of your colleagues bullied you.

You could also find it a complete nightmare just being around people, so much so that you would rather be unemployed.
 
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