Health or benefits?

[nukecad]

I got thinking about this when looking at a question of whether an ESA payment amount was correct.

I'm a bit conflicted here.

To declare where I am coming from, for those who don't know my particular circumstances.
I get ESA WRAG (IR) - £102.15/week. (and £60/week LHA for my rent paid direct to my landlord).
I have not been able to work for the last 5 years, but always worked full time before that.
I'll leave it at that for now, you can find stuff in my earlier posts or if needed I can expand on my medical history.

So to get to the topic:

If I was entitled to SG and/or any of the disability premiums it would make things financialy easier.

But there again my health would have to be worse to qualify for SG (and maybe PIP).

I know that I'm probably not phrasing this right but it seems to come down to:

Would I rather be more able and have less money in benefits?
Or would I rather be less able and have more money in benefits?

And yes, I would much prefer to be able to work and not have to rely on benefits at all.
(So that answers my own question, lol, I said I wasn't phrasing it right).

Tricky one as I myself seem to be on the borderline.
Sometimes I think I should be able to get back to work, and then the week after I know that this is not going to happen anytime soon.

So what are your thoughts?

And please no political rants here, lets keep it to practical issues.

[rich-ward]

I got thinking about this when looking at a question of whether an ESA payment amount was correct.

I'm a bit conflicted here.

To declare where I am coming from, for those who don't know my particular circumstances.
I get ESA WRAG (IR) - £102.15/week. (and £60/week LHA for my rent paid direct to my landlord).
I have not been able to work for the last 5 years, but always worked full time before that.
I'll leave it at that for now, you can find stuff in my earlier posts or if needed I can expand on my medical history.

So to get to the topic:

If I was entitled to SG and/or any of the disability premiums it would make things financialy easier.

But there again my health would have to be worse to qualify for SG (and maybe PIP).

I know that I'm probably not phrasing this right but it seems to come down to:

Would I rather be more able and have less money in benefits?
Or would I rather be less able and have more money in benefits?

And yes, I would much prefer to be able to work and not have to rely on benefits at all.
(So that answers my own question, lol, I said I wasn't phrasing it right).

Tricky one as I myself seem to be on the borderline.
Sometimes I think I should be able to get back to work, and then the week after I know that this is not going to happen anytime soon.

So what are your thoughts?

And please no political rants here, lets keep it to practical issues.

Health is more important, in my opinion.

Having a desire to work and not rely on benefits - nothing wrong with that.

But each individual has to be realistic about what they know they could cope with. It's fine to want to do stuff and have drive etc, but pushing yourself to do stuff at the expense of your personal health - I've never understood that. I may not be the healthiest person I know, but I try to look after myself. I've been disabled long enough to know what my limits are and how far I can push myself. I work with what I've got, not against it.

I'd love to be in full-time employment earning money - but it's just not physically possible.

I do Voluntary work, which even though I do not get paid I treat as work (with the bonus of being able to do as much or as little as I can cope with). There's no pressure for me to turn up, or do loads of hours (with the threat of losing my job or wages if I don't comply).

[Lighttouch]

I have not been able to work for the last 5 years, but always worked full time before that.

If I was entitled to SG and/or any of the disability premiums it would make things financialy easier.

But there again my health would have to be worse to qualify for SG (and maybe PIP).

Would I rather be more able and have less money in benefits?
Or would I rather be less able and have more money in benefits?

And yes, I would much prefer to be able to work and not have to rely on benefits at all.

Good health comes first7. I consider myself to have 'good health' even though I'm a disabled person. You could eve5n go as far as to say I'm chronically disabled but that didn't stop me from working most of my adult life.

The first time I signed on was back in the 80s but I had an insurance policy that covered me for 12 months so I never claimed any income related benefit. Then I joined the Local Government on 6 month contracts which never expired so after 3 years I was offered a full time5 post that lasted another 12 enjoyable years.

During this lucrative time I enjoyed far away holidays every year and could also save money and overpay my mortgage.

I always knew that my disability would cause me to end work early due to 'ill health'. The tag given 'ill health' doesn't seem right as I don't have a terminal illness and I'm very rarely ill. In fact my 'sickness rate' was very few days a year and usually due to a fall.

I don't miss work and I'm lucky that I drive and get out every day. Again I don't sign on as I'm not entitled to income related benefits which isn't a surprise. Through planning ahead and investing I now have more ready cash than when I worked as it now runs into 6 figures!

But we're only human and I live a modest lifestyle so the people I leave it too will be well chuffed when my numbers up as you can't take it with you.

[rich-ward]

Again I don't sign on as I'm not entitled to income related benefits

I receive Income Related benefits and have never had to "sign on".

[Caley]

Personally, I would not qualify for ESA as I wouldn't say I'm completely unfit to work, and I'm at university and managing ok at the moment. However, I would not be able to work full time and could only comfortably manage say 20 hours a week, in a job that does not require a lot of standing or walking as I have arthritis in both knees amongst other problems. I was awarded PIP while still working 25 hours a week, but the job did require some walking and I gave up as it was becoming a real struggle.
I hope to find a well-paid part time job once I've finished my degree, but will seriously have to look at our finances first as it's possible we may lose more than we gain with reduced housing/council tax benefit and loss of free school meals etc. It shouldn't be that way and it would be crazy to waste three years hard work at uni, but the way the system works, disabled people with children don't always seem to be much better off working though it may well be different for single people or couples without kids. If I'm likely to end up working for nothing, I can see me doing voluntary work till the kids grow up (they're teenagers so not light years away) and try to get paid work then.

[Archersmate]

Hello,

My thoughts are, be brutally honest with yourself and don't act impulsively. Ask yourself:

If I go back to work, will it make my illness worse?

If I apply for jobs, do I have skills, qualifications, or experience required by employers in the current job market?

Are there other barriers to jump over to get a job?

What level of remuneration would I expect?

How easy or difficult would it be to access a place of work?

If I took a job how long could it be before my illness worsened and I would be unable to continue? If you don't honestly know.

Could I take a voluntary job temporarily to see how I feel about working and what effect it has on my illness? WRAG includes voluntary work.

Is my illness likely too get worse anyway? In which case you could end up in SG.

There are so many questions you can ask yourself, maybe you've already asked the above questions, if I can think of anything else I'll add them later.'

Whatever you decide to do, I hope it's the right decision, good luck.

[Caley]

Yes, the worry is always there - if I take a job and can't cope, or end up having to take too much time off sick if my condition flares up or gets worse, could I get finished and end up sanctioned by our wonderful and compassionate DWP? It seems that so many disabled people would love to work, even if it's just part time, and so many have valuable skills, knowledge and experience which could be put to good use, but the inflexible system makes it difficult and they end up no better off financially while living in fear of sanctions if their health forces them to stop work and some faceless DWP official disagrees. I'm really enjoying my uni course and managing ok on student finance, but what I'll do afterwards is something I'll have to seriously think about, as I like many others am worried about what will happen if I take a job and find myself financially worse off with no way back without possible sanctions/extreme financial hardship if my health gets worse and I have to stop work.

[reddivine]

@Caley there are many unemployed graduates out there. Or employed in different fields for which they trained - my kids are examples of that.
@richward - consider yourself lucky never to have had to sign on. I was one of "Maggies 3 million" unemployed in the 80's as a young person. Qualified but often passed over cuz of a medical history of epilepsy. I didn't start claiming benefits untill 2005 - when i was older, poorer, and newly divorced. MORE qualifications, including a degree....but hey ho why employ a 40 year old when we can pay the 16 yrs old much less??

[rich-ward]

@Caley there are many unemployed graduates out there. Or employed in different fields for which they trained - my kids are examples of that.
@richward - consider yourself lucky never to have had to sign on. I was one of "Maggies 3 million" unemployed in the 80's as a young person. Qualified but often passed over cuz of a medical history of epilepsy. I didn't start claiming benefits untill 2005 - when i was older, poorer, and newly divorced. MORE qualifications, including a degree....but hey ho why employ a 40 year old when we can pay the 16 yrs old much less??

I have vivid memories of going to the Job Centre (when it used to be all decked out in Orange) with my Mum as she looked for work in the 1980's.

[Lighttouch]

I remember the first time I visited a job centre to sign on - I thought I was in the wrong building what with lounger sofas and computers about the place.

I arranged to see a 'Disability Advisor' who was surprised to find that I'd never been before. They also said my work was too specialised and they couldn't help!
So I didn't sign on.

Last year I visited JobCentrePlus's Disability Advisor to see if there was any support for disabled people who may want to work for themselves. In my case no there wasn't and again she tried to find me on her database - no such luck - I don't exist as far as they are concerned. That's fine by me!