Should I ask my doctor for a sick note?

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I lost my job in December. I'd only been there a year and it tipped me into a bit of a crisis if I'm honest. The entire thing was a disaster and I did not perform well. I don't blame them for sacking me at all but it has really knocked my confidence and I did have suicidal thoughts multiple times. Those are getting less now but I do find I go there, maybe just because I've been there iyswim. (maybe you don't, I can't explain any better)

Reason for them sacking me was performance. I've always previously worked without problem but on taking on this new job shortly after I started I developed severe menopause and another unrelated health problem, my mum became ill and I stopped coping. I didn't take time off but I did do my job badly so they sacked me.

Since then I have been trying to get my life back together. It's been hard but I'm getting there. I have found some voluntary work using a skill I have that I'm really enjoying through two different organisations and in both the people in charge have told me as soon as my dbs comes through they can start giving me more responsibility and start paying me for my time. I'm also having counselling and have been attending a drop in crisis centre that I have found to be an absolute lifeline. I've been tending my long neglected allotment plot and doing yoga and meditation classes.

But today I had a universal credit appointment and and Jesus it was really full on. She said that I have to make an agreement to apply for three different types of jobs every day otherwise I won't get any money. I said to her that I've been paying in for close to forty years and she said did I think that that meant I could just sit around and do nothing for six months while these things I'm working on come good. So I said no, but I do think it should enable me to get some help for a short period while I'm in crisis.

To be clear right now I absolutely can't countenance another office job. I am not that much back from the brink.

Anyway she then said I could always get a doctor's note, like a fit note. And so now I'm thinking I should. My surgery is well aware of my health problems and it's them that has referred me for the counselling etc. Is that ok to do? I do think I should work but when I think about working I just feel so full of doubt and fear, like absolute panic.

100% yes. Speak to your GP about fitness for work including looking for work. Sound like you could set yourself back if you don’t. Make sure volunteering will not affect your fit note. Good luck and best wishes with your recovery. I hope your volunteering work proves to be the long term solution you are looking for

Yes to the fit note if you feel to unwell to search for work properly. It will take the pressure off for a while.

Thanks both. I do feel like a bit of a fraud because I'm not incapacitated. So you know, it's not like I can't do anything - clearly I can do things, like my voluntary work, so I feel like I'd be taking the piss getting a sick note. I mean, it's not like I have cancer or something. (I just want to throw myself into the river, periodically, is that even an illness)

I’m a GP and I don’t think you’re a fraud at all. I would write the note for you in this scenario, it might have to be carefully worded as a “may be fit for work” note specifying what you are and are not likely to be for to do right now in order to enable you to carry on doing the voluntary work that is helpful for you.

But ultimately the DWP putting excessive pressure on you to find a new long term job tomorrow is potentially going to backfire, make you more mentally unwell/less able to cope and work in the medium term. It’s short sighted of them but I think there is some new massive push to get people back in work if they’re capable as a lot of the workforce is currently economically inactive. And that’s fine for people who just happen to be unemployed right now and who are actively seeking work rather than struggling.

Mental health issues are as valid as your physical health and wanting to throw yourself in a river periodically is often part and parcel of depression. It sounds like you have had some situation depression triggered by menopause, work stress and your mum’s illness, plus I think a lot of people are just more mentally fragile since the pandemic and cost of living crisis etc.

Anyway, you’re not a fraud, you’ve been struggling and are actively engaged in a rebuilding process with things slowly on the U.K., I think it’s really important to protect that progress so that you aren’t set back unnecessarily in your recovery and can go forward with finding the right work once you’re more up to it.

Not unreasonable at all, just be aware though it might only be for a couple of weeks at a a time. Most doctors start with a week or two, then review and see if another is needed. Many wait sign off for months etc to start with.

Yes get the sick note, and well done for getting yourself better, and knowing how to look after yourself, I'm sorry everything came at once and you could not cope. I hope things get better for you and your find your steady feet again

Thank you all.

I got a sick note and put it in my journal but now they are saying I have to have an assessment and in the meantime have to attend all these fucking appointments and spend 35 hours a week looking for work. So it has not done me any use. Bastards. No wonder everyone hates them.

I am really worried about this and I cannot cope.

Oh gosh, can you ask them to explain why you have to look for work if your are not well enough. Could you call them this morning? I'm sure the UC contact centre opens on Saturdays.

Thank you so much @Prunesaregreat , it helped to just see what someone with a "regular" perspective thought, as opposed to me, in my state of opposition. I was at my voluntary work on the morning so put a message after I'd finished, on my journal, saying please can you explain to me why you're telling me to spend 35 hours a week looking for work when my doctor says I'm not fit for work. I also pointed out that I've paid into the NI system for 36 years and am now on week 10 of being signed off sick and am being supported by my GP, counsellor and crisis team to do voluntary work that will lead to sustainable paid employment, but given the support I need and am accessing at present it's not sustainable or realistic to spend 35 hours a week looking for the type of work I have just been sacked from.

This morning they cancelled all of my work search appointments, moved me to telephone appointments and said I can review my claimant commitment at the first telephone appointment.

So I'm counting that as a win. I saw my counsellor this morning and she said I had advocated for myself very well. Which I did, but really it was thanks to your message - just asking them a question - obviously there isn't an answer to it so they can't push it. Thank you!