Here's a complicated one for you!

sparklewing

Going to be honest from the start- not even sure what I'm asking just looking for some points of view any info anyone can give me. It's going to be a long one!

Right.
I've been signed off work since August with severe IBS and related anxiety(panic attacks etc). Been to counsellor and anxiety under control but IBS is not.
Applied for mortgage insurance but they refused as IBS is stress related and I had not been referred to a specialist. After 6 months of arguing with my GP I am now being referred to a specialist.
I'm skint and my dad has been paying my mortgage for me as I'm only getting SSP. But obviously I don't want him to have to pay this, feel so guilty.

Anyhoo on Thursday I had an appointment with an occupational health guy which was arranged for me by work. I am currently a cinema manager. He has told me(after a long discussion) that he is going to advise my work that I should be let go on the grounds of ill health as due to my IBS I need to be in a job with routine hours(working all sorts of random shifts in current job) plus as I am suffering badly from stress which in turn makes my IBS worse I need lots of me time and time to socialise with my friends. He says I need to find myself a nice unstressful 9-5 job.

However he needs to write his reccomendation to some health service who then inform my work.

On Monday I have a meeting with my work as they are changing the management structure and the managers on my level will either be promoted or made redundant(I've worked there 20 months and would get £250 redundancy money). They said they would leave my meeting til I was better but I asked to go ahead now as I just wanted to get it over with(this was arranged before the occupational health guy).

So my questions:
1.Do I tell work that the occupational health guy is going to advise them to let me go or just go to the meeting and play along as if I know nothing?

2. If they let me go due to ill health will they pay me anything(ie the redundancy money) and will I still have the months notice to wait before I can get a new job?

3.Do you think I should reapply for my mortgage insurance-thought I haven't seen a specialist yet I have now been referred.

4.Once I've been let go do I apply for incapacity or jobseekers?

5.I really really really want to get a new job but who is going to employ someone who was just let go on the grounds of ill health?? How should I phrase it on applications/ interviews?

6.Why is my towns citizens advice only open for like 12 hours a week??? Going to go see them as soon as I can cos the money situation is not good. basically including my mortgage my outgoings are £530 and my incomings are £280. And even based on this the council only gave me a discount of £10 a month on my council tax!!!

Anyway thanks to anyone who even bothered to read this far. Any ideas/thoughts/help would be much appreciated, I'm so confused!

ben500

sparklewing wrote:

Going to be honest from the start- not even sure what I'm asking just looking for some points of view any info anyone can give me. It's going to be a long one!

Right.
I've been signed off work since August with severe IBS and related anxiety(panic attacks etc). Been to counsellor and anxiety under control but IBS is not.
Applied for mortgage insurance but they refused as IBS is stress related and I had not been referred to a specialist. After 6 months of arguing with my GP I am now being referred to a specialist.
I'm skint and my dad has been paying my mortgage for me as I'm only getting SSP. But obviously I don't want him to have to pay this, feel so guilty.

Anyhoo on Thursday I had an appointment with an occupational health guy which was arranged for me by work. I am currently a cinema manager. He has told me(after a long discussion) that he is going to advise my work that I should be let go on the grounds of ill health as due to my IBS I need to be in a job with routine hours(working all sorts of random shifts in current job) plus as I am suffering badly from stress which in turn makes my IBS worse I need lots of me time and time to socialise with my friends. He says I need to find myself a nice unstressful 9-5 job.

However he needs to write his reccomendation to some health service who then inform my work.

On Monday I have a meeting with my work as they are changing the management structure and the managers on my level will either be promoted or made redundant(I've worked there 20 months and would get £250 redundancy money). They said they would leave my meeting til I was better but I asked to go ahead now as I just wanted to get it over with(this was arranged before the occupational health guy).

So my questions:
1.Do I tell work that the occupational health guy is going to advise them to let me go or just go to the meeting and play along as if I know nothing?

No don't tell them, the way I see it they will take the opportunity of offering you a redundancy in the hope of getting rid of what they view as a liability, if you let them know your just giving them the opportunity of saving a few hundred pounds, after all you said yourself the doc is going to tell them anyhow so what have you got to lose by keeping quiet.

2. If they let me go due to ill health will they pay me anything(ie the redundancy money) and will I still have the months notice to wait before I can get a new job?

It is unlikely they would have to as the recommendation would mean for reasons of health and safety they would have to do so and therefore not liable for compensation unless you could demonstrate that the stress and related illnesses were as a direct result of your employment.
Doubtfull you would have any commitment under these circumstances.


3.Do you think I should reapply for my mortgage insurance-thought I haven't seen a specialist yet I have now been referred.

Yes

4.Once I've been let go do I apply for incapacity or jobseekers?

If you apply for incapacity benefit you would receive enhanced payments after a quallifying period, but despite legislation to protect you when seeking employment, in practice it would make it incredibly difficult for you to gain employment in the future

5.I really really really want to get a new job but who is going to employ someone who was just let go on the grounds of ill health?? How should I phrase it on applications/ interviews?

If you see out the meeting with a bit of luck you will get a redundancy offer and the only information any prospective employer would have would be that which you supplied or they could dig up commercially if they could be bothered and were willing to pay.

6.Why is my towns citizens advice only open for like 12 hours a week??? Going to go see them as soon as I can cos the money situation is not good. basically including my mortgage my outgoings are £530 and my incomings are £280. And even based on this the council only gave me a discount of £10 a month on my council tax!!!

CAB offices are generally staffed by volunteers and part timers hence the minimal hours open, this is also affected by local funding, but definately a good idea to get there when they are open as they are a valuable source of free information,

As for your financial situation there are those on here who can give you invaluable sound and most importantly free and effective advice if you are prepared to bare your financial sole to them, there are appropriate threads to do this on and you will soon be overwhelmed by the help and assistance offered,perhaps someone else can point you in the right direction

Anyway thanks to anyone who even bothered to read this far. Any ideas/thoughts/help would be much appreciated, I'm so confused!

Good luck with your endeavours and remember its money not blood or oxygen, have a look around the boards at the many ways of minimising your outgoings, check out the Tesco misprices thread and start getting your groceries free for instance, don't concentrate solely on increasing your income, often it is far easier to decrease your outgoings.

HTH

Fran

Citizens Advice is a good idea in case there's something you've missed. You could try Incapacity Benefit claim (which would be less stressful than being on Jobseekers as you won't have to sign on etc.) and if you aren't successful with it then sign on for JSA and appeal. You can get help with Incapacity Benefit form and appeal if necessary from Citizens Advice. The reason they are not open much will be to do with funding, each bureau has to raise the funds individually so it depends on how good the manager is in putting in successful applications also eg. some local councils put in more money than others. Good luck.

ben500

sparklewing wrote:

Going to be honest from the start- not even sure what I'm asking just looking for some points of view any info anyone can give me. It's going to be a long one!

Right.
I've been signed off work since August with severe IBS and related anxiety(panic attacks etc). Been to counsellor and anxiety under control but IBS is not.
Applied for mortgage insurance but they refused as IBS is stress related and I had not been referred to a specialist. After 6 months of arguing with my GP I am now being referred to a specialist.
I'm skint and my dad has been paying my mortgage for me as I'm only getting SSP. But obviously I don't want him to have to pay this, feel so guilty.

Anyhoo on Thursday I had an appointment with an occupational health guy which was arranged for me by work. I am currently a cinema manager. He has told me(after a long discussion) that he is going to advise my work that I should be let go on the grounds of ill health as due to my IBS I need to be in a job with routine hours(working all sorts of random shifts in current job) plus as I am suffering badly from stress which in turn makes my IBS worse I need lots of me time and time to socialise with my friends. He says I need to find myself a nice unstressful 9-5 job.

However he needs to write his reccomendation to some health service who then inform my work.

On Monday I have a meeting with my work as they are changing the management structure and the managers on my level will either be promoted or made redundant(I've worked there 20 months and would get £250 redundancy money). They said they would leave my meeting til I was better but I asked to go ahead now as I just wanted to get it over with(this was arranged before the occupational health guy).

So my questions:
1.Do I tell work that the occupational health guy is going to advise them to let me go or just go to the meeting and play along as if I know nothing?

Don't tell them, the chances are if they are reveiwing staff levels then your's would most likely be one of the positions they would view as being most desirable to terminate given all of the above circumstances, essentially this gives them an opportunity of unloading what they view as a liability without the risk of upsetting/offending or antagonising you, if you tell them they will simply cut you out of the equation and let you go on recommendation and save the £500

2. If they let me go due to ill health will they pay me anything(ie the redundancy money) and will I still have the months notice to wait before I can get a new job?

As above unlikely they will pay you any premium, but also unlikely you would remain contracted for any period after notification

3.Do you think I should reapply for my mortgage insurance-thought I haven't seen a specialist yet I have now been referred.

Yes

4.Once I've been let go do I apply for incapacity or jobseekers?

If you apply for incapacity after a qualifying period you will get enhanced payments, however despite equality legislation it will make it more difficult to find future employment.

5.I really really really want to get a new job but who is going to employ someone who was just let go on the grounds of ill health?? How should I phrase it on applications/ interviews?


If you play along and they release you through redundancy any future employer is only likely to have the information you actually supply them plus a little more they can dig up through normal channels if they can be bothered to go to the trouble and expense.

6.Why is my towns citizens advice only open for like 12 hours a week??? Going to go see them as soon as I can cos the money situation is not good. basically including my mortgage my outgoings are £530 and my incomings are £280. And even based on this the council only gave me a discount of £10 a month on my council tax!!!

CAB offices are mostly populated by volunteers and part time professionals this is why such a limited service is offered, make sure you get to see someone they can be invaluable help, as for your current financial situation you can get some of the best help available free of charge on these forums provided you are prepared to bare your financial soul to those in a position to assist you, there are appropriate places to seek financial help I'm sure another poster can point you in the right direction, and in no time at all you will be in debt management rather than debt crisis mode,

Anyway thanks to anyone who even bothered to read this far. Any ideas/thoughts/help would be much appreciated, I'm so confused!

HTH..........

sparklewing

Thanks for that info.

My outgoings cant be reduced any more than they already have been. Literally the only thing I could get rid of would be the internet and landline and really really don't want to do that as being off ill the internet is my main way of getting a bit of human conversation. (its only £20 a month for the landline and internet together anyway so wouldnt help much.)

Food wise all I'm eating is smartprice foods, I've stopped smoking, I never go out/rent dvds/buy anything at all so I really cant reduce my spend that £530 is bills only(and 30 pounds worth of food a month).

The problem with the do I tell my bosses thing is: I have to go through an interview for this promotion/redundancy thing and they have also said something about if we arent promoted we will be offered a lower position or can takevoluntary redundancy(so not sure if that would make a difference) plus the occupational health guy said my work will be informed in the next 2 weeks but my work aren't announcing the results of the interviews til the 20th february so they will have been told before then anyway.

Oh I'm just so confused about the whole thing! Especially worried about what to put as my reason for leaving/wishing to leave on application forms since they will find out about my 6 months off sick anyway when they pursue a reference.

Why is nothing simple?

andrew71

Applied for mortgage insurance but they refused as IBS is stress related and I had not been referred to a specialist. After 6 months of arguing with my GP I am now being referred to a specialist.
I'm skint and my dad has been paying my mortgage for me as I'm only getting SSP. But obviously I don't want him to have to pay this, feel so guilty.

I'm in the same boat as yourself regarding morrgage insurance. It seems that they are very picky about stress related illnessess (CFS/ME with myself)
Try to claim again for your insurance. Are you still paying the insurance? If the Insurance company at least acknowledge that you are off work due to the illness then they may waver the monthly insurance payments. (Save you some money at least.
The Insurance company may request you go to see an independent doctor to assess your illness. (Just hope you never got who I got :mad: )
There is no arm in trying to reclaim. We are being penalised because we also have loan out which thankfully the bank is paying with insurance for that.

Regarding work. Don't tell them you are wanting to finish. Like previous poster(s) say it gives them an excuse to relieve you of your duties.
Claim to them that you hope to go back to work when you are fit and ready and that you hope it is soon. That way they can't relieve you because basically you are refusing to go on their terms. Your doctor will recommend that you don't return to work not that you won't be.

Anyway good luck

fleur

Apply for Incapacity Benefit,you're GP needs to supply sick notes, then ask the job centre if you can go onto the New Deal, then you have a personal advisor who can explain things & help you find a suitable job. If you go onto the job centre plus website there is a lot of info there.