Your Experiences of Sickness Absence

Max_Bell · February 2019

Hi everyone,

I’m Max, and I work in the Policy Team at Scope. We’re undertaking work on how to keep more disabled people in work and whether current practice on sick pay helps or hinders disabled people being able to stay in the workplace.

We’re really interested in people’s experiences of accessing sick pay and experiences of being in and out of work. If you have experience of this we’d love to understand your experiences and views on the following:

• Have you ever gone back to work after being ill, because you were worried you wouldn’t get paid sick pay? What caused this worry?

• Have you ever spent longer than 28 weeks off sick? If yes, how did this impact your finances?

• Did you have any communication with your employer whilst off sick regarding your return to work? (e.g. when you would be back, how you were doing)

• Whilst you were on sickness leave, did you get any professional support to help you return to work? (e.g. the Job Centre, occupational health, or the NHS)

If so, what was this help like and how did it help you return to work?

You can also e-mail myself at campaigns@scope.org.uk if you’d prefer to answer in private, or have any questions.

Best Wishes,

Max Bell.
Scope.

Markmywords · February 2019

I've had experiences at both ends of the spectrum;

• Have you ever spent longer than 28 weeks off sick? If yes, how did this impact your finances?

I have, for cancer treatment, I went completely broke!

• Did you have any communication with your employer whilst off sick regarding your return to work? (e.g. when you would be back, how you were doing)

At worst, no communication at all until I contacted them to return. At best, my line manager visited me every few days in hospital in a personal capacity. He even bought magazines for me!

• Whilst you were on sickness leave, did you get any professional support to help you return to work? (e.g. the Job Centre, occupational health, or the NHS)

In both instances my employment had not ended although there is much more to the story than that.

When you have no other income, SSP is an irrelevance anyway. Half goes on food if you have dependants. The rest won't cover accommodation or heating or transport for ongoing treatment.

Alison13 · February 2019

Hi Max, I have gastroparesis which causes me to vomit 8-10times a day. I cannot eat solid food only liquid. I have lost a lot of weight. I worked for the NHS for almost 20 years. I had only had a few days off here and there until my diagnosis. The more weight I lost the more fatigued I felt. My main issue was very low blood pressure which made me dizzy all the time through dehydration. It was well documented as I worked at an out of hours GPS surgery. At first they were supportive, management telling me I really look ill and sending me home. We had a meeting out of the blue, I was not warned of this, they said my work was failing and my attitude to other staff had deteriorated. Up till then I had received no complaints about my work at all, I had a pdr interview just 3 months before stating that my work was good , that I was always polite and pleasant to patients and staff. I was told at the meeting I had to retrain. They would give me 1 month. I was given 3.5 hours of training then 1 month later I was sacked. I suspect it was about my illness but could not prove it. I was fired 3 weeks before Christmas. I had trained the person who took my job the month before just to add insult to injury. It took me 6 months to receive any benefit. I now claim standard pip and ESA support.
Although we all know that it's illegal to fire someone for being ill we all know it goes on. I hope this helps you help someone else in the same position.
Yours sincerley
Alison.

Your Experiences of Sickness Absence

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