Im receiving some long term treatment for a year - what are my rights in terms of pay

invisibility

I haven't had a OH form yet so I've not withheld any information - of course I'll declare everything. The health section on the pre employment check is literally just tick boxes.

I got told my the jobcentre advisor that I had no obligation to tell them anything about treatment or illness at interview, especially seeing as I could be waiting ages for my treatment anyway. And you say I didn't tell them after my interview - I've only just had it a week ago, and only got told I got it on Friday. That's exactly why I'm trying to think of what I'm going to tell them or ask about.

I've heard DWP are very good with things like this so I guess I should just hope that's correct.

FBaby

Have you been given your unconditional offer then? Very unusual for public bodies to do so now without OH clearance first, but indeed, at least you are protected from that perspective if they don't do so.

Not that it means they have to agree to flexible arrangements, but they can't accuse you of misleading them.

maisie_cat

There will be no "right" to the time off paid, unless it's specifically in a contract and I doubt that. My husband works in the public sector and has a congenital blood condition that requires hospital appointments regularly, he tries to fit them after work or has to take unpaid leave or holiday. In his organisation even cancer patients do not get the time off for chemo as paid leave.
If the organisation does not know you should disclose it asap. Unless you are able to make the time up they may rethink your employment

JCS1

Are you doing a group Depression and Anxiety CBT course or similar? One in my area lasts for 26 weeks and I had to make up the time. Which just caused more stress and anxiety.

One of my bugbears is that a lot of mental health support takes place Mon-Fri, 9-5. Even organisations like Rethink, Mind, etc have very little if anything in evenings.

antonic

As others have suggested you *may* have a condition that is covered by the Equalities Act 2010 and you MUST make this known when you start the job.
What you can also do is ask to work a compressed working week (do your contracted hours over 4 days so you can still work a full week).
Are you contracted to work a full 37 hour week ?
If you can arrange your treatment around work they will look favorably upon the request.
I am an existing civil servant with 2 conditions covered by the Equalities Act and I work a compressed working week ( I work my 37 hours over 4 days).
This means that I can arrange all my medical appointments (that I can) on my non working day , which was one of the reasons I started working a compressed working week.

sangie595

invisibility wrote: »

I haven't had a OH form yet so I've not withheld any information - of course I'll declare everything. The health section on the pre employment check is literally just tick boxes.

I got told my the jobcentre advisor that I had no obligation to tell them anything about treatment or illness at interview, especially seeing as I could be waiting ages for my treatment anyway. And you say I didn't tell them after my interview - I've only just had it a week ago, and only got told I got it on Friday. That's exactly why I'm trying to think of what I'm going to tell them or ask about.

I've heard DWP are very good with things like this so I guess I should just hope that's correct.

Ah. I suspect you are jumping the gun by a mile then. These are generally bulk interviews - Some people can wait several months to actually get an offer to start, and some never get one. I'd be very surprised if you get a start date for March. You may have misunderstood. It's common in these jobs that they interview hundreds at a time, and people who pass the interviews simply go on to a list of people for when a job comes up.

I don't know who told you that the DWP are very good at these things. That's contrary to the information that I get directly from the unions there! EOs in the DWP are cannon fodder. And they have a minimal tolerance of time off work, paid off unpaid, for sickness or anything other than holidays. Regardless of whether your condition qualifies as a disability or not, you can't really expect them to grant you a day or more off work with pay for a year. They may be willing to allow for some flexibility on working hours, but I would guess that they may be very nervous of compressed hours or similar. If you are subject to mental health problems, I suspect they'll be concerned about the impact of lengthy days, especially if you are unemployed now, so there is no history of how you would cope with long working days. You need to bear in mind that they are not going to agree to anything that puts them at risk as an employer.

TELLIT01

[QUOTE=sangie595;73795559

I don't know who told you that the DWP are very good at these things. That's contrary to the information that I get directly from the unions there! EOs in the DWP are cannon fodder. And they have a minimal tolerance of time off work, paid off unpaid, for sickness or anything other than holidays. Regardless of whether your condition qualifies as a disability or not, you can't really expect them to grant you a day or more off work with pay for a year. [/QUOTE]

My experiences of HEO who do have the ability to allow some flexibility, rather than EO who have none, was very mixed when I was at DWP. The one who helped arrange the pool of people to take the staff member for radio therapy, and allowed that time to be taken as part of the working day, is at the one extreme.
At the other is the HEO who visited a staff member in hospital a few days after a mastectomy for breast cancer. Her first question was to ask when she expected to be back to work as other people were struggling to cover the workload!

Possibly coincidentally one of the above has since been 'managed out' of the organisation whilst the other remains. I suspect you can guess which is which.

FBaby

I didn't read the part about the interview taking place only last week and offer only coming on Friday. This will therefore most likely be a conditional offer, conditional to OH clearance and references.

Do expect to be asked to fill it an OH form where the questions will be worded in such a way that you will have to disclose your condition and not doing so will be false representation.

It is likely that upon the disclosure, an OH representative will be contact you to discuss the impact of your health condition on your work and vice versa. It is then you will have to mention the treatment and ask for flexible arrangement. Whether this is agreed or not will depend on the job, the team, the manager, the rules etc...

Tiddlywinks

Whilst I am sympathetic to those requiring support for mental health conditions, I am also sympathetic to the employers who employ people to actually DO the job.

Sorry, OP but you seem to view the employer as a vehicle for your needs etc which is completely misguided.... the employer (in this case DWP) is there to provide services and so employs people to ensure that service is delivered. Budgets are tight and they employ just enough people for the tasks (in some cases, not enough people for the tasks). It is unrealistic (and unfair to future colleagues) to expect to work only 80% of the hours the role actually requires.

I agree with Sangie - OH will be reluctant to endorse compressed hours for someone returning to work after long term sick AND who is undergoing treatment. They have a duty of care to the employer to not place them at risk (by letting an employee work a regime that could be harmful).

So.... given that you are currently unemployed and any suitable paid role is better than no role at all.... why not look for (or ask for) a part time position? That is surely better than trying to go from nothing to working compressed hours and treatment all in one big hit.

Do you really, REALLY, honestly think you could cope with compressed hours, commuting, dealing with the treatment and all whilst learning a new role in a pressured environment? Wouldn't it be better to just take things slowly and build yourself back up?

sangie595

Interestingly, I had cause to email the DWP today. I got an out of office that says that they are totally busy and won't be responding to emails until sometime in the middle of February. At least. No idea what is going on there. But it would seem to suggest that varsity is a serious issue.