Entitled to more time due to Covid?

clare1angel

Hello everyone,
My husband, who works for the NHS, has been off sick since 22nd August 2019 and after a complicated surgery in December he then needed further treatment.
He was due to have an appointment about starting radiotherapy on 23rd March 2020 but due to lockdown this didn't happen and it was 2 months later before the treatment actually started.
Now I know the delay was not my husbands fault or that of his employer but due to these delays he's now been off for a year and they say he needs to decide whether to face an ill health capability meeting or sign a waiver to the meeting and leave the trust.
My husband has an appointment with his consultant on 21st September and has asked his work if he could be given the extra time for that to go ahead so that he has all the information he needs to make an informed decision.
They do not want to allow this and don't seem to acknowledge that his treatment was delayed due to reasons out of his control.
Should they give him the extra time under the circumstances or is this completely fair?
Thank you for any advice 🙂

JamoLew

wow that's not good behavior from the trust, they are usually very supportive to staff members, especially when treatment such as radiotherapy is required. - would hope ours would never act like that
Hopefully he is in a union as that would be his first and best port of call.
Does he have a time scale for returning to work ?
What age is he ? Retirement on grounds of ill health may actually be a good option
His sick pay will expire very soon - so there is no direct wage cost to the trust after 22nd August 2020 - he may be able to negotiate a "career break" or similar

clare1angel

JamoLew said:

wow that's not good behavior from the trust, they are usually very supportive to staff members, especially when treatment such as radiotherapy is required. - would hope ours would never act like that
Hopefully he is in a union as that would be his first and best port of call.
Does he have a time scale for returning to work ?
What age is he ? Retirement on grounds of ill health may actually be a good option
His sick pay will expire very soon - so there is no direct wage cost to the trust after 22nd August 2020 - he may be able to negotiate a "career break" or similar

He has constantly been told that he needs to have the all clear from the consultant before he can return and even then he'd still need to be referred to occupational health first.
He's 59 so retirement could be an option either next year when he's 60 or maybe through ill health.
Sick pay finished last month due to some sickness in 2018.
We have asked if there is any discretion for leave just to cover until he has his appointment in September but they don't seem to be very willing to help 🤷‍♀️

Thrugelmir

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

clare1angel

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Yes he is and he'll be 60 next May

JamoLew

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Indeed majority will/should be 1995 which may be handy (I'm 51 and have 23 (?)years in the 1995)
Retiring on Ill Health at 59 may actually be a very good option for him although I would still be pushing  back for unpaid leave untill his appointment

clare1angel

JamoLew said:

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Indeed majority will/should be 1995 which may be handy (I'm 51 and have 23 (?)years in the 1995)
Retiring on Ill Health at 59 may actually be a very good option for him although I would still be pushing  back for unpaid leave untill his appointment

We have been in contact via email asking for some kind of unpaid leave to bridge the gap but still awaiting a reply.
Thank you for your help

sweetsand

clare1angel said:

JamoLew said:

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Indeed majority will/should be 1995 which may be handy (I'm 51 and have 23 (?)years in the 1995)
Retiring on Ill Health at 59 may actually be a very good option for him although I would still be pushing  back for unpaid leave untill his appointment

We have been in contact via email asking for some kind of unpaid leave to bridge the gap but still awaiting a reply.
Thank you for your help

Hi OP
I was going to suggest that as I read your first post, ie ask for unpaid time off - phone and speak to someone if you can and as yuor hubby now has an appt, give them a firm commitment to his decision and remind them this is due to covid and you do appreciate the help they have given but want a couple of weeks and a redline date. In my judgement they will accept.
I hope everything works out for you guys.  (if you call them make bullet points re the worry you are going through, unpaid leave, date you guys to make a decison and grateful in these worrying times and assure them you will not mess them around - it all helps both sides.

ATB

JamoLew

good luck with everything -- sounds like you've had a rough 12 months

clare1angel

sweetsand said:

clare1angel said:

JamoLew said:

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Indeed majority will/should be 1995 which may be handy (I'm 51 and have 23 (?)years in the 1995)
Retiring on Ill Health at 59 may actually be a very good option for him although I would still be pushing  back for unpaid leave untill his appointment

We have been in contact via email asking for some kind of unpaid leave to bridge the gap but still awaiting a reply.
Thank you for your help

Hi OP
I was going to suggest that as I read your first post, ie ask for unpaid time off - phone and speak to someone if you can and as yuor hubby now has an appt, give them a firm commitment to his decision and remind them this is due to covid and you do appreciate the help they have given but want a couple of weeks and a redline date. In my judgement they will accept.
I hope everything works out for you guys.  (if you call them make bullet points re the worry you are going through, unpaid leave, date you guys to make a decison and grateful in these worrying times and assure them you will not mess them around - it all helps both sides.

ATB

We did it via email so that we had it all written down and no one can say they said something when they did or didn't.
We literally have asked just for the extra bit of time until he has the appointment with the consultant but as of yet I haven't heard back from them.
We don't want to mess anyone around have tried to make that point to them so hopefully we'll hear back tomorrow 🤞
Thank you

sweetsand

clare1angel said:

sweetsand said:

clare1angel said:

JamoLew said:

Thrugelmir said:

Is your husband in the 1995 scheme? When is he 60? 

Indeed majority will/should be 1995 which may be handy (I'm 51 and have 23 (?)years in the 1995)
Retiring on Ill Health at 59 may actually be a very good option for him although I would still be pushing  back for unpaid leave untill his appointment

We have been in contact via email asking for some kind of unpaid leave to bridge the gap but still awaiting a reply.
Thank you for your help

Hi OP
I was going to suggest that as I read your first post, ie ask for unpaid time off - phone and speak to someone if you can and as yuor hubby now has an appt, give them a firm commitment to his decision and remind them this is due to covid and you do appreciate the help they have given but want a couple of weeks and a redline date. In my judgement they will accept.
I hope everything works out for you guys.  (if you call them make bullet points re the worry you are going through, unpaid leave, date you guys to make a decison and grateful in these worrying times and assure them you will not mess them around - it all helps both sides.

ATB

We did it via email so that we had it all written down and no one can say they said something when they did or didn't.
We literally have asked just for the extra bit of time until he has the appointment with the consultant but as of yet I haven't heard back from them.
We don't want to mess anyone around have tried to make that point to them so hopefully we'll hear back tomorrow 🤞
Thank you

Thank you for the update.
I'm sure it won't come to this, but if you do need to and speak on the phone, best way imo and concise confirmation via email later - if the front line staff say no and this is how NHS and Soc Services work, the person at the top, speak with them, they will often say yes - this comes from years of working from the government bodies, lol
I hope it goes well and judging by what you said it should as you appear to be a reasoanble family
x