Advice Please - Jobcentre making my wife ill

lelboy123

Hi all,

As per my title I need some advice please. The jobcentre are chasing my wife to look for work which she has been for a few months. But they are being so full on that it is now making her ill. The Jobcentre are now in partnership with Reed so she has 2 people on her case at present. She has to see them both in person separately every 2 weeks & have a phone call with both of them separately every 2 weeks.

It is now making her ill with stress with the constant pressure on her. So much so she is now having panic attacks & had to go to the doctors on Friday hoping they can put her on some form of anxiety or depression pills. My question is - is there anything we can do? Can I phone them up, explain the situation & try to get them to back off? Do we need something official from the doctor to back us up to get them to back off? Basically they are making my wife ill at present which is having an affect on not only both of us but our son too & we need them to back off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

poppy123456

Has she reported her health condition and sent in fit notes from her GP? If she hasn't then she needs to do this. When you claim UC you are a job seeker until a decision on the work capability assessment says otherwise.

It's a work coaches discretion whether they turn off work commitments, or reduce them. Some will, some won't.

She should certainly explain to her work coach about her health conditions because if they don't know they can't help

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

I think there is more pressure recently to get 0eople in ti work 

You couod get a fit note from the gp and report a medical condition then after 28 days her work coach should refer for work capability assessment 

I the process does take months though and she will need to send continuous fit notes throughout until a decision I'd made on her ability to work 

She will still be classed as a job seeker until decision is made bug work coach can turn off work commitments at their discretion 

lelboy123

Yes this has been an ongoing problem for a while. My wife injured her neck 9 years ago & still suffers with it to this day. She has tried everything to fix it but nothing has worked. My wife did get a fit note from her GP last year. The Jobcentre deemed her fit to work however. So since then my wife has been looking for work. We have been through this with them before though. They want her to look for work...... my wife will get a job........it will make her neck flare up........ she will have to leave the job due to the pain. It's a revolving circle which we have warned them about. We do tell them exactly what will happen each time but they just follow their procedures like robots & apply no common sense to the situation. They don't treat us as an individual case at all. My wife doesn't want to quit the jobs - she has to because of the agony of her neck. She has been rushed to hospital in the middle of the night once before on gas & air because the pain was unbearable. Ok it was a one off but stress makes it worse for her.

My wife has been getting worse & worse since January when Reed got involved. It's now getting to the point where it is making her not function & stressing her out so much that we NEED them off her back but don't know what to do.

Can I phone the hotline & explain? Can I phone the hotline & request to speak to her work coach? I don't know the best approach.

janer1967

When you ring the help line it is just an outsourced call centre and often not very good advice is given 

It may be worth putting something on her journal mark it as service query then a case manager should see it 

You can request a new work coach bur they may just be the same . With new gov rulings think they are all under pressure to get people into work 

If she has been found fit for work there isn't much you can do as she is classed as job seeker while claiming uc 

You could email your local mp but they may not be able to do anything 

Sorry but I don't know a solution 

lelboy123

That's the underlying problem that is completely wrong in our books. She has been deemed fit to work by the Jobcentre even though no GP associated with them as ever even spoken to my wife let alone examined her. Yet her own GP has seen her numerous times, knows her history & has deemed her not fit to work. How can the Jobcente override a medical professional I don't understand. It wouldn't be quite so bad if they had seen her & examined her but they haven't. Seems completely wrong to me.

poppy123456

I see in another thread of yours that she asked for the MR for the decision that found her fit for work but didn't take it to Tribunal. If that decision was less than 13 months ago then she can request the Tribunal but any worsening of condition will not be taken into consideration.

In the meantime she will be classed as a job seeker until a decision on a work capability assessment says otherwise. I'm not surw what a local MP can do here.

She can also report a worsening of condition or a new condition but the fit note must clearly state a worsening of an existing condition, or a new condition. Even if she does this it will still be a work coaches discretion whether they turn off or reduce work commiments.

poppy123456

Your local Job centre hasn't deemed her fit for work because they can't do this and there's no GP;s at your local JC. Only a decision maker from DWP can make a decision on the work capability assessment.

A GP saying she's not fit for work isn't going to help either.

Her only 2 options is what i advised above.

lelboy123

Ok thanks. It's not so much a worsening of the neck. It's worsening mentally. Like I said she's had a couple of panic attacks recently (one this weekend) & it's severely affecting her each day mentally. She is depressed from it & her anxiety is through the roof. So I was looking to take that route because it's factually true & not the neck route as that doesn't seem to get us anywhere anyway. Is it worth seeing her GP & trying to get her to put something in writing to go back to the Jobcentre with explaining the toll it is taking on my wife? That is the only thing I can think of at present.

poppy123456

I think you're missing the point here. She's classed as a job seeker until a decision on a work capability assessment says otherwise. Her GP can write a fit note for reduced commiments but it will still be a work coaches discretion.

I think her only 2 options is what i mentioned above (Tribunal or a new/worsening of health condition route) and then speak to her work coach to explain her health conditions. You were advised of this in your other thread, was there any reason you didn't do either of those options?

calcotti

lelboy123 said: Is it worth seeing her GP & trying to get her to put something in writing to go back to the Jobcentre with explaining the toll it is taking on my wife? That is the only thing I can think of at present.

To be reassessed she needs to report a new or worsening health condition as advised already by poppy. Therefore she needs a new Fit Note from GP making this clear.

lelboy123

Thanks yes I understand. My wife said she didn't think there was any chance on them favouring her if she challenged their decision. I think at that point she just wanted to switch off from it so that was the reason it wasn't pushed anymore from a few months ago.

I will advise my wife to speak to her GP again & try to at least get something in writing regarding her anxiety/stress. I will also tell her she needs to speak to her work coach in relation to all this. Ideally if we can get something from our GP first that would be the better route.

calcotti

lelboy123 said:

I will advise my wife to speak to her GP again & try to at least get something in writing regarding her anxiety/stress.

Not 'something' in writing - a Fit Note. UC are unlikely to respond to anything else.

lelboy123

Yes I will make it clear it has to be a fit note. We can then go back to the JC with a new case almost as it's not to do with her neck it's anxiety etc.

poppy123456

If you go down the worsening of condition route please be aware that the backlogs of people waiting for a work capability assessment is huge so it could be several months, potentially longer before she gets the work capability assessment. Some members here have waited a year.

lelboy123

I will bear that in mind. Right now it seems the only thing we can try. She has a meeting with the JC on Friday so I will advise her to bring the subject up directly with her work coach & see how that pans out.

poppy123456

I still think you're missing the point here. If she's going to report a wosening of condition then she needs to speak to her GP to get a fit note, otherwise you will continue to go round in circles. Once she's got the fit note then speak to her work coach.

calcotti

Without a new Fit Note the Work Coach can do little. The official position currently is that she has been found Fit for Work.

poppy123456

All of this was advised several weeks ago in this thread here. https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/87597/advice-on-carers-allowance-universal-credits-please/p2 we are just going round in circles.

lelboy123

Yes I'm on board with the fit note. Get that first (hopefully) in relation to my wifes anxiety & stress at present. Present it to the JC & see what comes of it.

poppy123456

lelboy123 said:

Yes I'm on board with the fit note. Get that first (hopefully) in relation to my wifes anxiety & stress at present. Present it to the JC & see what comes of it.

No, don't present it to the JC. She needs to report a "change of circumstances" through her journal and report the health condition. Then report the fit note. Remember it must either say a totally different health condition or a worsening of an existing health condition, otherwise it won't be accepted.