Employment and Support Allowance

I found this article online today. It's good to see that the Citizen's Advice Bureau has identified the problems that I, and I imagine several others here, have encountered with the process of Work Capability Assessments.

The Government need to acknowledge that they got this one wrong. A lot of public money was wasted in my case, when I was initially denied ESA by the Benefits Agency, and then had the decision reversed by a tribunal. I had nine months of unnecessary anxiety, and the public paid for the tribunal that finally corrected the injustice.

Incidentally, whilst the UK government continues to display its characteristic ineptitude over ESA, I can report a more positive attitude from the Scottish Government. I recently replied a lengthy, thoughtful and encouraging reply to a series of questions I posed to the Scottish Health Secretary - Nicola Sturgeon MSP, and I will put up a transcript when time, energy and inclination permit.

The Story So Far

I've just "celebrated" the first anniversary of my ME. I'd had a couple of bouts of illness during early 2008, culminating in an illness that lasted for a week in June, during which I was running a high temperature, experiencing soaking night sweats, and feeling deathly. I was given antibiotics by my GP which seemed to clear things up, but slowly and surely the signs of the chronic problem began to show. I tried to return to work but simply couldn't get through a day. My GP was very efficient - he quickly had blood tests organised. All came back negative, so we were left with the differential diagnosis of ME. I've been blundering about in the fog ever since.

Until I was about 40, I hardly had ever set foot in a doctor's office, and the concept of being unwell had seldom occurred to me. However, when I was 41 I had a year during which I felt increasingly unwell before I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I had surgery, and a subsequent scare with a pulmonary embolism, and recovered well. Perhaps I was a little more prone to "tummy bugs" than some, but I was perfectly able to cope with life at work and at home as a parent of 3 children.

The next glitch began about 3 years ago, when I began to feel fatigued, unable to cope, irritable and all the rest. Tests soon revealed that I had developed Type 2 Diabetes, along with a side order of depression (diabetes and depression frequently co-occur). I gradually improved and returned to work after a six month lay off. Metformin and Fluoxetine became part of my daily routine, and remain so. I'm fairly confident I'm managing the diabetes, and I'm so scared of a return to the depression that I work hard to prevent it (this blog is a part of the therapy, I guess). Within a few months of my return to work, however, the niggly illnesses had begun that culminated in the ME.

So now I sit at home. My job went on grounds of my incapacity in April, although there was no suggestion that I might be entitled to claim some or all of my pension, and I remain in correspondence about this matter. I have been introduced to the wonders of Jobcentre Plus, Pathways to Work and other Government initiatives. None of these bodies seems able to comprehend that I am unwell, but I live in hope of convincing them. The DSS are so unimpressed that they have suspended my Employment Support Allowance. However, I can't claim Jobseekers as I am not certified fit for work. I am appealing the decision about my benefits - and await an acknowledgement of that from the DSS. Meanwhile, the bank make polite but firm requests about my plans for the mortgage I can't pay. Adopting a state of Zen-like calm becomes increasingly difficult. I grimace when I think of all the times I might have said I was happy to live in a welfare state where every citizen could expect to have their needs met - but illusions should be shattered, I guess, so that the truth is revealed.