Advice please re; welfare support and state benefits, for fibromyalgia

Flossie.

It's for my friend's husband.

He works at a big chain store as a shop assistant/warehouse assistant, and does different shifts. He is 48, and has been there for 10 years. He did 28 hours a week for the first 7, and has gone to 38 hours a week for the last 3. (He was offered more hours when someone left.) She says he has complained for the past year, that the hours are too long, and it's wearing him out. He wanted to go back to his old 28 hours a few months ago, but my friend talked him out of it, saying they'd lose about £250 a month income.

She says he moans and complains about every single little thing and every day he has a new ailment. He has had test after test after test at the doctors, and they have all come up negative.

She dragged him to the doctor last week, as he has been complaining a lot again about pain all over his body: first his left shoulder, then his right knee, then his ear, then his feet!

He is now saying that the doctor is suggesting that as the tests are showing nothing, that it sounds like symptoms of fibromyalgia. (As apparently that doesn't show up on tests?)

Now he is telling everyone he has it. He has told her that he doesn't think he can work for much longer, as he is in so much pain all the time. She says sometimes he seems fine, but then he will complain all of a sudden.

He is planning on giving up work altogether now, but my friend wants to know what benefits he will get, if any? (For fibromyalgia.)

She has looked it up on a few websites, but keeps getting conflicting advice.

Sorry if this post sounds silly or ignorant or if it sounds like we're a bit thick LOL; it's just that we don't know anything about it.

Indie_Kid

He won't get any benefits on the basis of a diagnosis.

If he has care and /or mobility needs which have lasted for 3 months and expect to last another 9 months, he may get PIP. There are huge backlogs with this.

If he can't work due to his health, he may get ESA.

TELLIT01

He will only be able to claim ESA if his GP will sign a medical certificate to confirm that he is suffering from an illness or incapacity. Simply believing he has it won't get him anything.

jobbingmusician

OK, so here is my understanding of how things work. Sorry that it might come across as quite negative (I'm criticising the system, not your friend's husband!)

If someone is not fit for work, they should apply for ESA. Nowadays people receiving ESA are divided into two groups - those deemed fit for work, and the support group. As you may have heard, it is REALLY hard to get into the support group, but if you are in that group, you get a measly amount of money which is more than Job Seeker's Allowance for 3 years. Then you have to prove you are ill enough to be in the group all over again. Ill people find this incredibly stressful.

If you are in the work related activity group, you will receive ESA for 12 months but will then be transferred to JSA. (If your illness has got worse in the mean time, I believe you can re-apply. You go round the whole roundabout all over again....)

If someone is NOT deemed eligible for ESA, they will normally be placed on JSA - job seeker's allowance. However, if the DWP decide they have resigned from their job without good cause (and this would be likely to be the case if they resigned and were not deemed eligible for ESA) their benefits would be likely to be sanctioned for a period.

Crap, isn't it! More information on benefits at https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/overview

I hope this is useful. I stress, I am not making any judgement about your friend's condition, simply about the parlous state of our benefits system. You might also like to look at links like http://www.sense.org.uk/content/esa-descriptors-determine-whether-you-have-limited-capability-work to see what sort of illnesses and disabilities score points which entitle people to ESA.

In addition to ESA, if the illness is severe enough, your friend might consider applying for other benefits such as DLA. Working through a benefits calculator such as that on http://entitledto.com/ is also likely to be useful.

Upsidedown_Bear

You and your friend might find this useful to read about fibromyalgia.
There is a section on claiming benefits.
http://ukfibromyalgia.com/fm-support.html

Indie_Kid

jobbingmusician wrote: »

OK, so here is my understanding of how things work. Sorry that it might come across as quite negative (I'm criticising the system, not your friend's husband!)

If someone is not fit for work, they should apply for ESA. Nowadays people receiving ESA are divided into two groups - those deemed fit for work, and the support group. As you may have heard, it is REALLY hard to get into the support group, but if you are in that group, you get a measly amount of money which is more than Job Seeker's Allowance for 3 years. Then you have to prove you are ill enough to be in the group all over again. Ill people find this incredibly stressful.

People in WRAG (work related activity group) are also classed as unfit to work.

If you are in the work related activity group, you will receive ESA for 12 months but will then be transferred to JSA. (If your illness has got worse in the mean time, I believe you can re-apply. You go round the whole roundabout all over again....)

If someone is NOT deemed eligible for ESA, they will normally be placed on JSA - job seeker's allowance. However, if the DWP decide they have resigned from their job without good cause (and this would be likely to be the case if they resigned and were not deemed eligible for ESA) their benefits would be likely to be sanctioned for a period.

They won't be transffered / placed on to JSA. They have to apply for JSA themselves.

In addition to ESA, if the illness is severe enough, your friend might consider applying for other benefits such as DLA. Working through a benefits calculator such as that on http://entitledto.com/ is also likely to be useful.

DLA doesn't exist any more for adults who are making a new claim.

jobbingmusician

Apologies - of course DLA is now PIP. (But I did say 'such as' )

And thank you for the other clarifications. I agree, your clarifications are correct.

Flossie.

How incredibly helpful, thank you.

FM is a strange one, as it's a condition that you can't actually see, and that has no medical 'proof.' And someone told my friend that her husband will not be able to claim a penny from the DWP, as it's a 'questionable' illness (ie; there is no actual proof anything is wrong; just the person's word.)

My friend feels a bit bad too, because she half disbelieves him, as he seems fine sometimes, and has always been a moaner and a complainer who has everything worse than anyone else. Not just illness, but problems of every kind.

And she said she doesn't know why he is desperate to give up work anyway, as his job is a real doddle, and that he spends 2-3 hours of his shift, watching tv programmes or a film on his laptop, or he surfs the net! So she says it isn't a hard job. He has admitted that himself. And he has been moaning about one ailment after another for 4-5 years now. Just moreso since he went full-time.

I think he would be better off with his first choice of reducing his hours, than giving up work altogether. Like someone said, it is very hard to get on ESA at ALL, let alone for FM, and if he is forced onto JSA, that will be MUCH lower than his pay at 28 hours a week, and you can get sanctioned at the drop of a hat.

Thanks for the info and links.

Indie_Kid

His boss would be required, if it's needed, to make reasonable adjustments to making working easier.

Flossie.

Indie_Kid wrote: »

His boss would be required, if it's needed, to make reasonable adjustments to making working easier.

Would he have to get an official diagnosis from the doctor first? Because, playing devil's advocate, from their point of view, he could be making it up to get an easy life at work.

As I said, it's a tricky one, because FM is hard to diagnose, and hard to prove.

Indie_Kid

You may want to ask about that on the employment board. But my understanding is that, he just has to prove that he has a health condition which affects his ability to work.