Employment And Support Allowance (ESA)

[cardiffsteve]

Dont know if anyone will be affected by this but I had a phone call today from Job centre plus.

They said that my contributory ESA will stop at the end of april because I have been on it more than 365 days.

This is a new law which has just been passed by the coalition but only affect people who have been on the contributory ESA for more than 365 days, not the means tested ESA.

Hope I've not confused you if you are on ESA.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Steve,

Write to Nick Clegg and tell him thank you very much and he can say goodbye to your vote

[di]

I think that's what I'm on. I'm not really sure what to do, my sick certificate is up until the 14th and I found out today that my induction day(new job) is the 12th.

So what will happen to those on contribution based, will they/you have to become means tested or just miraculously cured?

[cardiffsteve]

They try with means tested esa but if you exceed the limit you go onto JSA for 6 months then no money.

So if you are not "cured" then you get no benefit.

So people with certain illness like cancer, depression or something that hopefully get better from but may take some time, will potentially have no money.

[Helgalush]

Thanks for alerting us to this, I had no idea.

[di]

All because the minority fiddle the system

Now that I feel so much better, I don't mind saying. I went through absolute Hell, mentally, for a couple of months or so. It was my adviser at the job centre that almost pleaded with me to switch to ESA. (I was having anxiety attacks about going out, even the school run was done under an extra large cap) Switching was possibly the biggest mistake ever. (and I held off as long as I could) I was told it would take the pressure off looking for a job, the pressure they put you under to prove you're unfit for work, the pressure of three weeks with no money and kiddies to feed was so much more than that of looking for work.

I've been lucky and something has snapped me out of where I was, it makes me sick that there are people out there with no obvious physical symptoms, that have to 'prove' they're not fit for work, when actually, the guilt of not being able to get out there is possibly one of the biggest guilt trips that's preventing them from getting better.

[donnakebab]

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anybody know if part time workers are allowed to claim statutory sick pay? I don't even know which department of social services to get in touch with. It was DHSS in my youth. Is it even Social Services?

I've used most of my sick pay allocation of 1 week already having been employed with them for just over a year. I am due to have an op in June some time I don't know how long I'll be off but it's only key hole surgery so probably not long. Thing is my wages have come to be a major player in household economy. Just worried and it's been so long since we had to claim anything, don't know what to do.

[cardiffsteve]

DK, You should get SSP if you've paid NI but you wont get paid for the first 3 working days.
So if you work Mon, Tues & Wed then you wont get paid until the following Monday.
So if you're off for 6 days you get paid for 3 as a part timer.

Hope that makes sense.

[Ananke]

Di, you hit the nail on the head. There are people out there cheating the system that need to be stopped (benefit fraudsters and rich income tax dodgers alike)

My brother was in a car crash many years ago, they told him he wouldn't walk again but he proved them wrong and went on to work full time for the next 40yrs with next to no days off. In the last 5 or so years his legs became so bad he could no longer work. Last year the Incapacity Benefit people cured him, if only they were around in 1969 instead of the doctors eh lol

[di]

Sadly, our democratic, equal rights to all nation has become.....or is becoming more....the rich get fatter, the poor get poorer...and if you're poor and poorly, you damn well prove it before taking pennies from the rich pot.

My sister has Parkinsons, she was diagnosed at least 6 years ago. Last year she had to go to an appeal to stay on income support...she also has three sons, two have Aspergers. I've got a friend with Chronic ME...a couple of years ago, she was the mum that walked over a mile to get her kiddies to school while the posh mummies drove a hundred yards to get their kiddies to school. Shje can't do it anymore...and feels crap that she can't, she's made to feel even more crap by 'defending' her illness. FFS, she wants to be rid of it, not defend it!

Another family ....two perfectly fit parents, a house to die for(all renovated by the council),two hundred pounds spent on each four children at Christmas, God knows what else through out the year....the fiddlers seem to know how to fiddle....or maybe it's just that, as they're not really poorly, they have no shame in making up the stories to make out they're poorly.

Seems to me that all these tightening up methods are hitting the genuinely needy and not the minority of cons.

[donnakebab]

Hey CS. So it's sort of pro - rata (Haha! that right?) So i'd get paid ssp according to the hours I work?

Suppose I need to talk to my manager who is the most unapproachable person there could be in the workplace. The best laf is he's a union rep too. Not mine though.

[cardiffsteve]

If you worked monday to friday, the first day you get ssp is thursday.

[julesapple]

The BH has just started this fight. We're dreading it. They've already virtually called him a liar as I see it. If he fitted into the Spinal Injury box, it wouldn't be so bad. But they tell us he didn't get his back problem through injury (he got them through majorly failed surgeries) so he doesn't fit that criteria. He has to go under 'bad back' so they can cure him. My BinL has Parkinson's Disease, he was a gas fitter and plumber, but with his PD he is no longer safe to do those. The DWP have said he can go back to them when his PD gets better.......he says he can't wait. They qualified a paraplegic guy we know as fit to work because he can 'sit for an hour without assistance from another person'. The way he sees it, he has no choice.....!

With all this on top of the diabetes, you can see why we feel like chewed string. We'd only just won his Mobility tribunal and less than two weeks later the letter came about the ESA.

[donnakebab]

Well I work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. What then? 19 hours in all. After sister died last year I gave up
Tuesdays to spend with Mom. Unfortunately for for her I'm her last remaining child.

Thanks for the advice SC. I'll be tackling my manager next week.

[cardiffsteve]

Well I work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

So the first day you get SSP from is Friday, then the next week SSP is paid for mon, wed, thurs, fri and so on until you return to work.