Meeting with work coach

Beckz1205

I have a meeting with my work coach tomorrow, this is the second time seeing her (I am in the esa work related activity group). My nan comes with me to all appointments (hospital and previous esa appointments) as she is my support and drives me there as I have anxiety and public transport triggers my anxiety/panic attacks. My nan has recently beeen diagnosed with terminal cancer so now what with her health declining and her having her own appointments etc she’ll be less available to take me so I was wondering if I could ask to have telephone appointments? My last advisor did arrange telephone appointments and I didn’t ask for that at the time (I think he just wanted to save me having to travel all that way). This new advisor seems a bit of a jobsworth and wouldn’t even give me a direct email/telephone to contact her if I needed to rearrange appointments and told me I just had to ring the general number. Has anyone had experience with having telephone appointments? 

huckster

They have taken away landlines in Job Centres, so you cannot call directly, you have to phone ESA.

Government have requested Job Centres to hold 80% of appointments in Job Centres, as face to face appointments are apparently much more effective. I.e you can be shown information about courses available and also information on help to support you. By telephone this is more difficult.

So changes are behind what you mention.

Beckz1205

Well last time I saw her I told her I was studying with the open university and she said that is eligible for work focused activities so surely they wouldn’t be sending me on courses? 

huckster

They could suggest courses if they helped you move closer to employment.

Open University is considered as part time studies.

Spoonie_Turtle

So sorry to hear about your nan.

Beckz1205 said:

Well last time I saw her I told her I was studying with the open university and she said that is eligible for work focused activities so surely they wouldn’t be sending me on courses? 

The things they require you to do should be appropriate to your health, abilities, and other circumstances.  I don't know what recourse you would have if they ask you to something you're not able to do though.

huckster

As you are having appointments, you are in work related activities group, so the activities agreed between you and work coach must be related to moving you closer to employment.

Open University courses are part time over many years and may not lead directly to employment. Courses linking directly to employment are more in line with Government policy in helping people gain employment.

Many courses available can be completed online. For example Skills Bootcamps (Google Gov.uk website about these courses). There are a large number of digital IT courses available and these can lead to jobs, which can be mostly working from home. 

What activities are you completing to improve your health and improve your future prospects?  Have you asked about help available ?

poppy12345

huckster said:

As you are having appointments, you are in work related activities group, so the activities agreed between you and work coach must be related to moving you closer to employment.

OP stated this in their first comment.

Beckz1205 said:

I have a meeting with my work coach tomorrow, this is the second time seeing her (I am in the esa work related activity group).

Beckz1205

Thank you for the replies! Had my appointment, it went okay. I did get upset though when I told her the situation with my nan and told her how my mental health was declining because of it. She asked if I’d seen my gp and I told her last time I spoke to him it wasn’t a positive experience and he wasn’t very helpful and wouldn’t entertain changing my anti depressants as others can interact with my current medications. I mentioned I need therapy as I saw a psychologist before (which was referred through gp a few years ago) but that service is not available anymore. I said I’d looked into paying myself but it is so expensive. And also mentioned it would need to be face to face and somewhere I can go that is separate from home as that would work best for me. She suggested talking therapies and sent me some links through email. I have epilepsy and have both tonic clonic seizures and have absent seizures daily, I also suffer from anxiety and depression. I am under the care of a neurologist and an epilepsy nurse. So unsure really of how much help can be offered to get me back to work when my medical condition isn’t fully controlled. I am a qualified nursery nurse and want to get back into working with  children but in a school setting hence why I am studying at open university doing a primary education degree. She did agree to a telephone appointment for my next appointment which is in March which is good. And she also mentioned I’m due an WCA as my last one was in 2018 so that’s just added extra stress worrying about that with everything else going on right now!