Advice needed-builder needing job change due to injury

niftythrifty33

I wondered whether anyone has any advice or experience in the following for my husband?

He has worked in the building trade since leaving school doing lots of heavy lifting inc. very heavy large windows, scaffolding, plastering, brickwork etc. He has suffered with very painful shoulders for a few years. He's had steroid injections, physio etc and is currently off work (only a few days) unable to raise his arm and is suffering greatly. He doesn't get sick pay (small firm) so is reluctant to be off work.

GP has advised to leave his trade as this problem will not go away and will continue to get worse! Easier said than done!

Trouble is he left school without qualifications, is mid 40's and hates reading & writing. He has no idea what to do. Obviously he can't just leave work and retrain/study full time due to finances.

Does anyone have any ideas of what he could do? He is willing to do a course if it's at home, we don't have a good local college. We also don't have many local jobs (small town, nearest large town is 1.5 hrs away) so it needs to be something that he could actually find work in.

He's looked into driving jobs but the pay is too low and is barely over minimum wage which we'd struggle to manage on.

I'm sure there are so many men that have been in this situation due to physical injury/building but we're just at a loss to know what to do.

Thank you in advance

BrassicWoman

Hi,

could you work instead? He is in a small place, unwilling to go away to study, with poor literacy and numeracy - he's going to be very limited.

Is moving house an option?

Have you looked at an industrial injury claim?

Murphybear

Did he actually injure his shoulders at work or is it something like frozen shoulder which can creep up on you?

niftythrifty33

Thanks for your replies.
-I have always worked.
-He simply cannot go away to study. We have a mortgage and 3 teenagers. Another reason why we can't wove.
-He doesn't have poor numeracy, I said he hates reading/writing.
-The GP hasn't actually given the problem a diagnosis or name so I'm unsure whether it's frozen shoulder but it's definately work related. We don't know anything about industrial claims but doubt he would want to do this, he just needs some ideas on career changes/options. Preferably some positive ones.

TELLIT01

First thing is the comment about not getting sick pay because it's a small firm. The company may not pay his wages but if he's been paying tax and National Insurance he is entitled to Statutory Sick Pay if off sick from work. An employer can't simply decide they aren't going to pay it, unless there has been a change in the law recently.

niftythrifty33

Thanks TELLIT01, I think he could get SSP from the government but it's only about £80 p/w. He's only had about 5 days off work in the last 15 years due to illness and we always use savings to cover the loss as it's a day here and there. I think you have to be off work for a while to get SSP and thankfully this has not been needed. Though we've no idea what will happen if his shoulder is still as painful next week.

Takeaway_Addict

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

Thanks TELLIT01, I think he could get SSP from the government but it's only about £80 p/w. He's only had about 5 days off work in the last 15 years due to illness and we always use savings to cover the loss as it's a day here and there. I think you have to be off work for a while to get SSP and thankfully this has not been needed. Though we've no idea what will happen if his shoulder is still as painful next week.

You only have to be off 3 days on the trot and then the 4th onwards gets paid SSP (providing you meet other criteria), surely its better than nothing?

Ultimately, if he wants to leave that career he needs to look at retraining himself in something else. He will find it difficult to just jump from one industry to another.

trailingspouse

Our neighbour was in this situation - had been a scaffolder all his working life, not much in the way of qualifications. Ill health meant he could no longer do the scaffolding, and he struggled for a while. He's now working in a security role (he's a big lad).

Or maybe he could set himself up as self-employed, with an apprentice or junior of some sort to train up and do the heavy lifting?

You say he's looked at driving jobs - I know they're NMW, but surely that's better than nothing while he's looking for something better paid?

It's hard when ill health forces you to go down a route you weren't planning on. You need to stay positive and leave no stone unturned. Concentrate on what he can do.

niftythrifty33

Thank you for your reply trailingspouse, that's very positive. It's very hard for him to take a job with minimum wage after working hard for years to get a decent wage. I think it's hard for someone in his situation with the pressure of being main breadwinner and providing for the family.

I can't find much info online about this situation, which is strange as lots of people must have been through this?

ohreally

trailingspouse wrote: »

Or maybe he could set himself up as self-employed, with an apprentice or junior of some sort to train up and do the heavy lifting?

Interesting you advocate he trains a youngster to be put in the firing line given heavy lifting is allegedly the cause of the op's oh being injured to the extent they are unable to continue.

When_the_going_gets_tough

Is there any scope for him to move into teaching/training building trades so he can continue to utilise his skills. You say you are rural - rangers, forestry, driving farm machinery - have a look at what people do in your area and see if he can dovetail his skillls into those jobs?