When and what to claim

Chrissiew

My Husband has been off work sick since Jan, when he was well enough to return he had to see the occupational health doctor before his employer would allow him to work, the OT said in his opinion my husband was not fit enough to return to his driving job and as there was no other work for him at the company his boss gave him 9 weeks notice which ends on the 28th Nov, so at the mo he is getting full pay untill that date.

He has angina, high blood pressure, COPD, and type 2 diabetes, he will have to claim some sort of benefit when his notice is up but which one? Will it be JSA or ESA? Due to the medical conditions he has and his age (56) would an employer take him on, would JSA say due to illness he should try for ESA?

Also as these things take so long to sort out should he apply a couple of weeks before his notice is up or would he have to wait untill he stops getting paid by his ex employer, we have rent to pay and are already on a suspended court order for arrears (which we are now paying) but will get into more trouble if we have to wait weeks for benefits to get sorted.

mazza111

Depends on whether he could do any job or not and not just that job. When I got medically retired I was fit enough to do other jobs, like office work etc. So went onto JSA, it was only after my latest accident that I found I couldn't do any work, so went onto ESA.

I think he would need to wait until he's laid off before he can put any claim in, but I'm not too sure on that one. Remember benefits are normally paid 2 weeks in arrears, so in theory this should be enough time to get things in place for him (note the in theory).

It's also getting harder and harder to get onto ESA, and many people are failing their medicals even though many would deem them unfit for work.

Chrissiew

Thanks mazza, yea he was just deemed unfit to drive so I guess he could do other work

Bigmoney2

How long has he worked in his current job?

Have they given notice of dismissal on grounds of incapability,
or just that his sick pay will stop.

Has been in receipt of SSP or IB/ESA.

Does he have any pension provision that he could take early, either from this employment or previous jobs (this may not be his best option but worth looking at).