Come to a decision

After talking with my partner, I have requested to cut my hours at work. So in Jan I will only be working mornings. Hopefully that will mean less stress, and let me rest and get fully into remission, and get rid of this fatigue.

I went to see if I could claim any financial help. I was told if I was too ill to work at all I could get one benefit, but there is nothing out there for people who are working but struggling due to an illness. I know I don't qualify as disabled (according to UK law at least). So my boyfriend will have to keep up the overtime for a while longer. But the advisor did tell me that if I want benefits, I should have a baby! No wonder the country is in the state it's in, if that's the advice being handed out to young people!

I know the feeling! Ive gone down to 4 days and can't believe how much money I lose
Are you sure you couldn't claim for any of the disability benefits? I looked at it a while ago in case I was unable to go back to work even for 4 days and thought I might qualify due to my level of fatigue and not being able to so general stuff. They do say to fill in your form refering to how you are on your worst day.
I think you are right to reduce your hours. It has been a lifesaver for mending 4 days. As I have Wednesday's off I always know that I only ever have 2 days to get though before a rest. Hope it goes well for you

The thing is, on my worst day (like today was bad) I hit a brick wall around 2pm. Normally I finish work about 3. So by the time I get home I just want to sleep, and knowing that my dog wants to play after being alone all day, and there's housework to do and dinner to cook just stresses me out. I'm hoping that working mornings means I can get home and rest before I hit the wall. And so have energy to do housework, play with my dog, things like that. But for the mornings at least I function perfectly normally, even today I was lugging boxes around!

I will speak to the doctors anyway, I need to ask about my bloodwork from last week and they wanted me to let them know how I am over the holidays. So I will ask if there's any way they can sign me off as being able to work reduced hours, but too ill to work full time.

I'd definitely try it and see. It's worth a go at least.

Hi Rebecca,
Sounds like a good decision to me, has made me think, why had it never crossed my mind to do the same? Is there a chance that you could trial these new hours before make a change to your contract?
Hope this makes a difference for you, and gives you some quality of life back.
Take care
Andrea

Good Luck Rebecca
you've made a good decision there and you're still young enough to go back full time in the future when you reach remission.
I'm sure you'll get some benefits if you work 16 hours or under?
I'd book an appt with the Citizens Advice Bureau, they're very helpful and know the score.
xxx

Another thought is getting in touch with the nacc. They have various guides on their website and you can also phone up to get advice specifically about benefits.

Although I will be making a change to my contract, I have made it clear that it is for health reasons, and I consider it a temporary move (1 or 2 terms is the timeframe I mentioned to the head). So when I come to wanting my hours back, I will sue their asses off if they don't let me! Seriously though, I think I will put it in writing over the weekend to make sure it's officially only temporary.

And as for benefits, I am pretty sure Mark earns too much to qualify for anything, (unfortunately?) we bought our own place just before the recession, we are in negative equity so can't sell up or move anywhere smaller (though can't imagine anything smaller than this one), if we were renting we might qualify for more help. We aren't so desperate that we're missing payments or anything like that, but we will have to cut back on unneccessary expenses.

I will go and see the CAB though, they might have something more useful than 'have a baby' to say!

Hi Rebecca: I hope that you can make this temporary cut in work hours an exciting time -- take the extra hours and do things that you love to do! (ps: Naps count.) Am looking forward to hearing that you're feeling better again and counting the days to returning to full-time -- it'll happen!

I understand the negative equity situation. That's one of the main reasons I am working semester-to-semester contracts right now (can't leave the city to take a full-time position elsewhere). It's wonderful in that I love my home and this city, but also nerve wracking, to say the least!

That's ballsy, but I'm glad they seem to be somewhat understanding. Almost through the holidays...

Hi Rebecca,

What a shame you have to cut down on your hours. But hopefully it'll do the trick in making you feel better.

As Bushy said, the NACC can be really helpful with financial advise too. Are you a member with them? I know you can claim disability living allowance for Crohn's but it can often be difficult to get. The fact that you have to cut down your hours at work may help your claim though.

He's a link to the NACC guide on it. Hope it helps!
http://www.nacc.org.uk/content/services/dla.asp

I have checked everything I can think of and Mark earns too much for me to qualify for anything. The only thing I could possibly claim for would be Jobseekers (due to the low number of hours I will be working), but I wouldn't be seeking a job so it would be fraud. And they would make me attend back to work interviews and stuff which would kind of defeat the point in reducing my hours! And I'm nowhere near meeting the qualifications for DLA or anything like that! I can walk, I can wipe my own bum, so they don't think there's anything wrong with me!