UC work coach sessions are a waste of time while waiting for WCA

StarLilly

Hi all,

I'm in that place with UC where I am waiting for a WCA. I have been reporting Fits Notes for the 3 months so far and last week had my 3rd call with my UC work coach. I'm feeling extremely uncomfortable about these sessions and they are starting to trigger my anxiety and PTSD. I have fit notes so my UC work coach has said the sessions are not be about my ability to look for work but are about my health "Journey".

I'm uncomfortable because I feel like each session she is pushing me to "prove" to her how sick I am. I end up sharing a lot of personal information about my health and my medical treatments to someone who is not a health professional and doesn't even work in the DWP apartment that deals with disabled and chronically ill people. I had to stop working in Spring of this year because it was making my condition so much worse. I have a sense my Work Coach hasn't even read the information I gave about my condition at the beginning of my UC claim.

Also, sharing my personal health information with her seems like a waste of time as when I receive a WCA I should be put on LCWRA and then our sessions will end.

It's such a ridiculous system. Can anyone advise how to handle these temporary Work Coach sessions? If you have been through this, what did you talk about with your Work Coach while waiting for a WCA? I know I need to take more control of what is discussed in the sessions as I can sense she is become more bold in being judgmental and unkind.

I had to cancel one session because I had covid and was extremely unwell with it. When we spoke the following week I was still symptomatic and struggling to speak. When I told her this she said. "But, you were ill with Covid last month!" in an accusing tone. I replied "Yes, and people I know who have had it and aren't chronically ill have told me it's taken them 4 or 5 weeks to recover fully from this strain of Covid and I am in my 4th week".

Having to constantly justify or prove to a work coach that I am sick is becoming exhausting and making my symptoms flare-up even more.

Dendoo

I’m just on this journey are they always fast talkers and very very chatty ? I’ve only had 1 call one due next week and your right I ended up saying alkinds . Don’t get me wrong she was seemed nice but I felt stressed I can’t do with full on people lol . Anyway I’m wondering what next chat will be like 👀.

StarLilly

@Dendoo I think they might have a lot of people to speak to in one day so talking fast and getting as much information out of you in a little time could be the reason. On my first call she asked abruptly in the middle of a conversation "Do you want to work?" It really caught me off guard because I assumed she had read my through health journey but now I think she hasn't. I also realised I should have responded "I don't think that's the right question to ask because it's not about if I "Want" to work but if I am "able" to work with my health condition".

I hope your next call goes well.

Dendoo

I think

Your right . Actually somewhere amongst my conversation I’m

Sure she says you won’t be looking for work then and carried on talking I remember saying I need to try and get myself put right . It just come out can’t even think

Straight at time not much better now . Anyway it is what it is invisible diseases suck x

IndignantPigeon

Hi Star Lilly, sorry you've been having such a tough time with this. I've been classed as LCW for some time, having been forcibly moved over from ESA. I've found it much more intrusive than ESA, as they used to accept I had disabilities and didn't question it or badger you about returning to work. Luckily I've been passed over to a more sympathetic bloke at UC now, he's had his own problems healthwise and is a lot more understanding. I think a lot of the badgering is because the staff are trained to get you back into employment, they aren't trained in dealing with the disabled, as you say, and have no experience of it either. And they most likely have "targets" to reach and have to justify their decisions and failures to get you to start looking for work again with their managers. That would account for comments like "but you had covid last month!", it's most likely exasperation that you still have problems.

You should be able to take more control of these conversations though. Try to talk about your condition in general terms. Eg I have mobility problems but instead of going into detail about my health and why it causes this, I talk about what I can't do, like walk any distance without being in real pain.

Bear in mind Labour is pursuing the same policy as the Tories with this. One factor is trying to bully claimants into completing so many hours each week of "job preparation". I've found most staff are realistic about this and know full well you aren't going to be able to look for work and turn a blind eye to whether you're keeping to the hours of "job prep" you're supposed to do. If you can persuade them that you can't go to the jobcenter for these interviews, so much the better, as you won't be expected to join fruitless work prep classes etc.

But while you're classed as LCW and not one of the lucky few on the equivalent of the old support group of ESA, you will have to complete regular interviews. These have become every 3 months for me now, but are usually nothing more than a friendly chat "how's it going" sort of thing. If you can talk about some medical appt etc at some point in the future, or maybe even a conversation with your doctor about some treatment, you're reassuring them you're doing something positive and they can put something on your records to show your manager. It all helps to make it go more smoothly. It's all a pain I know, but remember this process was designed by IDS and at it's heart is the intention to bully until you get so fed up with it that you "give in" and get a job. Hopefully you'll have someone more sympathetic soon and things will become easier for you x

IndignantPigeon

…just to add, I meant "their manager", not "your manager"