Hi, my name is JayLay! Still being expected to attend meetings at the job centre

JayLay

Hi my GP has signed me off looking for work due to depression and anxiety, l am claiming Universal Credit. Although l have sent the sick note into my local jobcentre l am still being expected to attend meetings. I feel l am being bullied and treated unfairly. I suffer from panic attacks and this is not helping. 

poppy123456

When claiming UC you're classed as a job seeker until a decision on a work capability assessment says otherwise.

It's the discretion of your work coach whether they turn off or reduce work commitments, so do and others don't. Have you spoke to your work coach to try to explain your health condition and going to your local job centre causes panic attacks? If you haven't then please do that and ask if you can have telephone appointments instead.

bg844

Hi.
Fit notes do not turn off commitments, it is your work coaches discretion to turn them off/reduce them. You would have to wait until you are assessed for them to be turned off, should you be successful. Many others are in the same boat as you I'm afraid so you aren't being treated unfairly. You will get a form in the post called 'UC50' after 4 weeks but make sure you have done a change of circumstance on your account under the health category and list all of your conditions there.

Ross_Alumni

Hello @JayLay and welcome to the online community, it's nice to see you join us  

I have moved your thread over to our UC category and changed the title a bit to reflect the subject of your post. 

I hope the two replies above have been helpful for you so far. How are you finding the support of your GP at this time? I hope they are supporting you, not only with the fit note but with your mental health too. DO ensure that you get in touch with them if you ever feel as though you need more support to manage your depression, anxiety and panic attacks.

Do you have any coping techniques that you can use to help you get through this stressful time?

In terms of the rest of the online community, feel free to have a look around and get involved wherever you’d like 😊 I have included below a few of the pages I’d recommend having a look through to get used to things:

• The virtual coffee lounge which is one of our categories, in which we play games and talk about general subjects such as hobbies and interests
• The recent discussions page, which shows an overview of everything happening across the community
• The categories page, which shows a full list of discussion groups on the community

If you have any questions at all then don’t hesitate to ask.