I’ve been worrying like mad since one of those stupid sick forms came through the post about 2 weeks ago for my 6 month review.
I’m on the Support element of ESA which means £99 a week.
They are now reviewing this and I’m really nervous.
I haven’t done Rads yet but start on Friday.
I’ve got til the 22nd Sept to return the form so I’m delaying it as long as possible to stretch it all out.
Once I’ve finished rads do you think they’ll say I’m then capable to look for work straight away and put me back donw into the Work element and drop me back down to £65 a week?
Or will I have to go to a stupid assessment thing I’ve heard so much about - oh you can lift a kettle and reach up with your arm so you can work. Never mind crashing from fatigue, having cr*p short term memory, being unable to spell properly and not as sharp as you were.
Anyone any experience? I’m very eager to be “back to normal” and look for a job but I do feel I’m not ready yet because my body is healing still, it must be because I just have to rest so much.
Is your GP any help here in signing you off for another 6 months or some such (I am aware of someone with bc who gets signed off every 3 months for three months)? Not my experience, so I can’t offer any wisdom. Hope someone else can.
Speeling - as you see, where I haven’t corrected my typo, I can’t eiother anymore
hello el kat… i dont know much about benefits… but im sure they wont lower them … you probably wont be feeling strong enough for work… i wasent … i slept a lot… but im sure your GP will help you with filling in the forms , and giving you a supporting letter …to enable you to continue recieving the correct ammount… give the GP ring … angie x
Hi,
As far as I know someone may correct these details but I was told that when you are having chemo you are automatically placed in the group you are in, when chemo finishes but you are still having treatment rads, you are then placed in the work group, where you have to go for interviews at the job centre, I was very worried because I was having rads at the time and my appointment was in the middle of this, I went into job centre plus and they were really helpful. They have delayed my interview for a couple of months. Payments are around £4 or £5 less than you are receiving at the moment, hope this helps, when you are still in treatment for bc the last thing on your mind is interviews etc this is my first claim for ESA due to a big change in my circumstances, worrying about money all the time is very stressful and it really makes me mad about the “scrounger” scenario, (newspapers etc) I would like those who judge to try and live in my shoes, another small rant going to sit on the ff bench now x
My suggestion is that you go to the Macmillan nurses through your local hospital. You don’t have to be seriously ill for them to help you, they have lots of experience and they are brilliant at dealing with the paperwork for benefits etc.
Best wishes, Lynn
Thanks Guys and to those who PM’d me too.
I’m going to print out some stuff on Cancer Related Fatigue from Cancer Research and submit that with my forms, advising that they can speak with my doctor or BCN about the effects if needs be.
THen I can open dialogue with them if they decide they want to investigate it further.
You can’t send in sick notes with those particular forms, think I’d be jumping the gun. I can appeal after all, so if I need to I’ll get my doctor and BCN involved.
Isnt this all ridiculous when you are dealing with cancer treatment. Good grief. Having to justify yourself.
They should look at my work record and see I’m not some scrounger out to get signed off for good. Bah.
Hi
I have just submitted a claim this morning for ESA but I aint holding my breath!!! My SSP has been exhausted and I am going back to work part time on a phased return. I don’t even know why I bothered to claim as I know it will be rejected. They told me about the questionnaire and face to face meetings but is it going to be worth it? I am also suffering from fatique EL K and that is why I am part time- I too am not a scrounger and I wish I had the energy to go back to work fulltime. I never thought of looking for stuff on fatigue to include in claim but I will now. Elttiks what are they expecting you to live off?
Lizz xx
Has everyone tried Working Tax Credits? My OH works but is on £16k salary, I was doing temp work and just finished my last contract when I got the BC news a week later, so we qualified as a low income and also we’re all classed as “disabled” whilst having treatment, so you get extra for that.
I’d definitely say to anyone to try and see if they can get that, it makes a huge difference.
As to ESA, it’s a really weird system now. And it seems people who have tried to work whilst having treatment are penalised more? Which is not on.
I’ve just bitten the bullet and filled in the rest of the dreaded form, I’ve printed off a section from cancer research site on cancer related fatigue, what it is, what is does and what to look for and included this within my submission. I’ve explained what I’m like at the moment on this too.
I’m hoping this will be enough. I’ll let everyone know.
Eltiks - what a joke. I assume you’re another person who has contributed LOADS of tax over the years and hardly claimed a penny. Yet there are people out there who are bone idle and never worked a day in their lives getting everything they can. Not on, and we who have CANCER have to fight. Something not right about that. xxxxx I hope you get somewhere x
I used WTC to fill the gap between half pay, running out of SSP but failing the tests for ESA… it will only last while my job does though. They accepted an estimate of my income for the year, based on a recent payslip. As most of this tax year has been on half pay, my estimate of “just below the threshhold” was not unreasonable. It doesn’t matter how far below you say, but you will need to make a full set of numbers at the end of the year. You need to check what the qualifying income threshhold is for your circumstances, it’s about £13k for a single adult with no financial dependants.
Oh and there is a four week run-on period, you can still get WTC for another four weeks after your job finishes apparently.
