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esa on a career break.

HI. All,
I have been sufferinb from a nasty disease called trigeminal neuralgia. For the last almost a year now,
It is nicknamed the suicide disease and is said to be one of the worst pains know to man and med, the trigeminal nerve serves the face and it causes severe pain that stops you tqlking eating, brushing teeth etc.

I previously had 5 months sick at work (large upmarket retail supermarket) then took a 6 month career break basically to try to keep , y job while I wait to have a radiation gamma knife treatment, this may or may not work and will only last formmax 5 years before id need it again or would have to have cranial surgery to sever or remove whatever is obstructing th3 trigeminal nerve,

Im now on the 5th month of my career break, its looking unlikley I can go back at the end of jan as the procedure should now be in jan and it can take 6 weeks at the leastways to get the benefits of thenradiation.

In the meantime we are getting housing help now, hubby works in the same company as me but we e struggling , imwant to claim esa if im unable to go back but can I claim it now while on a career break as im not going to be sorted in time or do I need to wait until im on sick from work, another kind poster on another board had suggested I ask over here about esa as ive no clue how to go about it.thank you.

Comments

  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,099 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just to clarify.


    Have you received any company sick pay/statutory sick pay recently?


    i.e when was the last time you received any money?


    Have read your previous threads and I am a bit unclear about the time line. You are entitled to sick pay for 26 weeks. After that if you are still sick then you apply for ESA. Have you had your 26 weeks week of sick pay?
  • pmlindyloo wrote: »
    Just to clarify.


    Have you received any company sick pay/statutory sick pay recently?


    i.e when was the last time you received any money?


    Have read your previous threads and I am a bit unclear about the time line. You are entitled to sick pay for 26 weeks. After that if you are still sick then you apply for ESA. Have you had your 26 weeks week of sick pay?


    HI Thank you for your reply,
    I went sick from january to may then went back to work for a month but in agony then i used up my holidays for a month and at the end. Of july I took a career break till end of january..I dont how it works with sick pay and the new fiancial year, so I proberly had 20 weeks of sick pay, used up a month of hols, then took my unpaid leave.

    my last pay was I think july and got paid for 4 weeks hols in august and nothind since.I think it may be the case that i will be unable to go back in jan.many thanks for your helpful post, am a bit overwhelmed by it all and the disease.
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,099 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I think you might need to speak to your employer and find out about your rights whilst on a career break.


    From the little information that I have found it suggests that you are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay whilst on a career break.


    However, you can still be employed (which you are on a career break) and be entitled to ESA.


    Since your OH works it sounds as if you would not be entitled to income based ESA so you would need to apply for contribution based ESA (based on your NI contributions).


    Since it is a little complicated I suggest that you put in a claim for ESA and go from there.


    You do not say whether you have children or not or your ages.


    If you are over 25 and your OH works at least 30 hours a week you can put in a joint claim for working tax credits to see if you are eligible.


    If you have children then your OH needs to be working 24 hours a week and you can put in a claim for working and child tax credits.


    You can also try for Council Tax reduction.


    it is difficult to say what you might be entitled to as you have not told us all your circumstances and what your OH is earning. However, since you are receiving HB then I am guessing that your OH's income is low.


    It sounds a horrid illness. Hope you get some treatment soon.
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