Stress of applying for benefits is too much

[AthenaFaeyrn]

I got a sick note from my Dr for 12 weeks off work (it was a "Statement of Fitness for Work for Social Security or Statutory Sick Pay").

She told me to go to the JobCentre with that form, and today I finally summoned the courage to do it.

Well, I get there, and was told by the JobCentre man at the door that I had "got it in the wrong order" and was sent home with a phone number and told to do it at home!!

So, I get back home again, sweating and confused after that waste of a very difficult walk, and call up. I cannot hear the man on the line very well at all so I keep having to tell him to repeat things over and over again, and then the line just drops and he's gone. He didn't even call me back despite having gave him my phone number, so for an 0800 number on my mobile (I have no landline to call for free), I would have to ring up all over again - for a 45 min phone call.

I can't do this nonsense being sent from pillar to post when I have just been doing all of the things I was told to do and it be so incredibly mindblowingly hard and complex and testing as Hell on my condition. I did as I was told and went to the JobCentre, was sent home, and then this line cuts out and I still don't even know what I'm doing or which benefit I'm even applying for!

I wanted to go to the JobCentre and do what I needed to do there as I was told in the first place, not faff around with all of this sickeningly complicated process. It's just not worth it. I'd rather the horrors of struggling in poverty as I have been doing, than to endure this awful thing only for me no doubt to be interrogated in the future. It used to be Atos that was the real nightmare for me, but now all of it has changed and it's all just absolutely horrible from the very start.

I have completely exhausted my capacity for patience and willpower. It is hard enough for me to summon the strength to get out of bed, let alone waltz about to the place and then waltz back home and listen to Vivaldi Four Seasons for ages on hold and then get through to someone who I can't even hear.

[Moley]

If u have been given a sick note from the docs the u need to apply for ESA u may also be eligible for PIP. but I would start of with ESA I have put up some links to help u.

when u ring ask if they have a mobile friendly number that u can call them on to save u money..

if u cant face it may be worth approaching somewhere like MIND for assistance to make the claim

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/367561/dwp015.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/overview

Hope this is of some help to u

[t0rt01se36]

I don't like the thought of you living in Poverty and I'm sorry you've had a stressful time, regarding your sicknote.

If Benefits stuff is too over whelming for you, get someone else to help.

There are certain organisations like the Richmond Fellowship who help with Benefits, but you'd have to get on their waiting list. Failing that, Citizens Advice will help you.

Good luck !

[Davit]

You do know they annoy you to see how bad you want this and It looks as if you don't want it that bad. Keep bugging them.

[AthenaFaeyrn]

If they really do this to annoy me then they've won; I'm defeated; they have succeeded so well that I can't go through with the process to get the very thing my Dr emphasized to me that I need to help me recover, (she knows about my living circumstances and health problems). I even told me Dr I can't go through with it, but she wrote up my note for the benefits anyway and just gave me it.

If they think I don't want it that bad because I can't drag myself through all of their process, they need to sort it out to make it easier on people with health problems; for me to push myself further at this point I am sure will make me worse. As it is, I am already unable to accomplish even simple self-care tasks (I am bed-ridden 98% of the time as I have been for the past year, I cannot cook for myself, and I had all of ONE shower in the whole of last month!) so how they think I am in the mood to run about trying to all of these places and make all of these phone calls and fill out all of these forms and such to beg and prove like this is a game is just something I cannot do. I'd have thought the fact that I am literally too ill to do what they want would be plenty proof that I'm suitable for their benefit. I already feel like a scrounger just going there and I feel worthless. It was hard for me to leave my job because of my condition. I just wish they could phone my Dr and ask her and she could tell them all about what I'm going through.

[Davit]

It took me a year and four Doctors to get a disability pension ten years ago. I was so fed up I was popping Ativan just so I could get through the day. The cheques go directly into my account and I'm glad I stuck with it. Don't give up, I'd advocate for you if I could, I know the system and I know how they think. And it is your tax dollar pays their wage.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi,

I've heard other with anxiety at the charity walk-in groups talk about their frustrations over all the red tape so you are not alone in this.

The first thing to think about is remove the anxiety issues and all the noise it makes for us and see if there is a practical solution at first so that we don't need to face the fears at this very difficult time.

So, are there any ways this could be made easier for you? Well, if you Google how to get ESA you will also find some advice on more detailed websites such as CAB and Rethink.

The Rethink one is geared towards people on NMP, so its a good source.

Rethink state the following:

http://www.rethink.org/living-with-mental-illness/money-issues-benefits-employment/employment-support-allowance/claiming

Employment Support Allowance - How can I claim ESA?

OverviewAboutClaimingAppealsClaiming for othersUseful contacts
How can I claim ESA?

You can telephone the Jobcentre Plus contact centre to begin a claim for ESA. An adviser can complete the first application form over the telephone. This form is called the ESA1. It asks for information about you and your partner including:

Name, address and date of birth
National insurance numbers
Brief explanation of your illness or disability
Name and address of your GP
Details of other benefits
Details of previous work
You can ask for the application form to be sent to you if you would prefer or you get a copy online and take it to your nearest Jobcentre Plus office. You can download the form here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-claim-form

If you need help, a carer, friend or relative could make the telephone call or fill in the form for you. You will need to be with them when they make any calls so you can give them permission to speak for you.

So, you now have the option to ditch the annoying phone line people and use another way to do this such as:

-download the online form and go back to the Jobcentre with it.
- ask someone to call for you. This way you will just be asked to confirm they can speak to you and the rest of the call will be done by them.

Here is the CAB link:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/#h-how-to-claim-employment-and-support-allowance