ESA? Broken ankle

dan_griffin11

Hello all,
i'm new to this, but i can see this forum being very helpful next year when i'm hopefully at university. but i need some help.
I'm 19, living with parents. and i'm unemployed, had a full time job for 5 months straight out of 6th form, but left in October, as i have exams to resit in January, to get into uni. i was then arranged to join back my old job after the exams.

Last saterday, i fell on some ice in my town centre, and have a broken ankle to show for it. my ankle was fractured both sides, and am now in a cast for a minimum of 8 weeks if i'm lucky! i can't drive, I have Car insurance+my phone bill, which is outgoings of just over £200 a month, i have no savings as i just bought a car, am i elligable to esa? cheers for your help (hopefully) and merry xmas:j

steve1980

Sue the council for not gritting the pathways. Where there's blame there's a claim. Although was you wearing appropriate footwear for the conditions?

Have you had to have pins and screws put into your ankle? You'll be in a plaster cast for 4 - 6 weeks with a moonboot to enable you to walk after that for 2 - 3 weeks. Then physio for x amount of weeks to get full mobility back.

Dave101t

your not disabled. so no.

Tulip09

ESA isnt necessarily for disabled people only, it is also for people who are unable to work through illness. Your best bet would be to go to the job centre and speak to an advisor, but for ESA you will need a Dr to sign you off unfit for work and on JSA you wont. I had to jump through hoops to get ESA and i have a few conditions.

A broken ankle does not stop you using your hands etc - can you look for an office job or one you are sat down most of the time? Checkout people get to sit down etc. The ESA or Jobcentre will not take the fact you cannot drive into consideration, you can get on a bus or into a taxi. I cant drive due to having multiple daily seizures and i was still expected to travel up to 90minutes each way by public transport. When i was 5 months pregnant i fell and broke my leg in 2 places & fractured my ankle and had to have 2 different operations to try and fix the damage. Although painful initially i was able to get about on crutches after the first week(ish) and within a couple of weeks i had got rid of the crutches and hobbled in a cast from foot to above knee, but i did have 2 other toddlers to run about after, but if you think your not going to be able to do anything - you proberly wont.

If you are going to be on benefits, perhaps look at lowering your outgoings (lots of great threads on this site). If you cant drive etc - do you need car insurance just now/ can you store it on private land/ off road etc? Your phone is also a luxury item - change tarrif/ change provider/pay as you go/ reduce your useage.

Good luck & Merry Christmas

CouponWoman

dan_griffin11 wrote: »

Hello all,
i'm new to this, but i can see this forum being very helpful next year when i'm hopefully at university. but i need some help.
I'm 19, living with parents. and i'm unemployed, had a full time job for 5 months straight out of 6th form, but left in October, as i have exams to resit in January, to get into uni. i was then arranged to join back my old job after the exams.

Last saterday, i fell on some ice in my town centre, and have a broken ankle to show for it. my ankle was fractured both sides, and am now in a cast for a minimum of 8 weeks if i'm lucky! i can't drive, I have Car insurance+my phone bill, which is outgoings of just over £200 a month, i have no savings as i just bought a car, am i elligable to esa? cheers for your help (hopefully) and merry xmas:j

Yes, you are.

Go to your doctor and ask for a sick note. Phone the DWP and make a claim.
Probably only get it whilst in plaster and for very short time after plaster cast removed. Your JSA (if you get it) will cease whilst you are on the sick. If you have insufficient national insurance contributions you will received non contribution based ESA. This is the equivilent of income support for people signing sick.

Good luck

NASA_2

You can claim ESA - ignore the rest of the nonsense and get a claim in when the DWP is open again.

Bhindi_Bhaji

You should be able to get it for awhile, however you almost definately will have to swap back to jsa after a medical interview about 2 months in.

I broke my ankle as well as my wrist in may this year and failed the ESA medical whilst in two casts,
I recieved a letter saying I was fit for work! and had to re-apply for JSA.
To make things even more helpful, everytime I see new person at the jobcentre they say I have no grounds for recieving JSA as I cannot work,
then my JSA money gots held up for a few weeks.

However to save yourself from this happening,
if/when they put you back on JSA you need to force them to give you appointments with the disability advisor (they may seem reluctant to do so),
since I have been seeing a disability advisor everytime I now have a problem I call them and it gets sorted.

Good luck

NASA_2

People with a health condition absolutely can claim JSA.

The DWP are quite regularly now issuing guidance to staff stating that JSA claims can be accepted from people who declare a condition that impacts on their ability to work but it must not be getting through to staff.

dan_griffin11

Thankyou all for your mixed advice, i guess i'll just have to give them a ring, i just wanted to see if there was any point, or i'd look like a fool.
And also the person that said i'm not disabled, thank God i'm not but having a leg cast/the need for crutches all the time, being unable to carry anything, even being unable to pee standing up. Is demoralising and upsetting, and i know i'm in a worse situation (be it only for a small period of time hopefully) than a few people in my area, that refuse to work and claim incapacity benefit, due to "mental conditions" ( i know as i talk to them down my local)
And also as regards to JSA, i've never taken it. I don't like taking from the state, especially because i know theres plenty of jobs out there. People shouldn't pay for my lazyness. i'm just in a pretty desperate situation at the moment.

Indie_Kid

NASA wrote: »

People with a health condition absolutely can claim JSA.

The DWP are quite regularly now issuing guidance to staff stating that JSA claims can be accepted from people who declare a condition that impacts on their ability to work but it must not be getting through to staff.

Indeed. I've had no problems at all claiming JSA with health problems. The staff know I can't do certain things and did find me a job (which finished Thursday) that was suitable.:)