Can I claim ESA if I resign due to stress (Autistic)?

[Willowcat77]

I am thinking of resigning from my job due to extreme anxiety. I am autistic (NHS diagnosis) and have worked for a charity for over 12 years but the job is becoming unbearable for me and I am badly burnt out and in a lot of distress. I just want to resign and leave. Would I be able to receive contributions based ESA or would I be penalised for resigning? My GP has offered me a sick note if I need it but there is no point me going off sick because the job will still be unbearable when I come back and I just want to leave. Due to the nature of the job they are unable to make any adjustments for me. Hope someone can advise, thanks in advance!

You would be better off claiming any SSP if you are entitled to as it pays more than ESA initially . However if you want to resign and your GP will write you a sick note and you have paid Ni contributions for the past 2-3 years then yes you could claim New style ESA. I guess the problem would be if you weren't put in the support group it would end after 12 months or if after assessment they found you fit for work you would obviously have no job to go back to.

Thank you @Babyroobs that's really helpful.

DH had the problem mentioned above he wasn't in the right group so his ESA ended after a year. The other issue is of course they have to find you unfit for work. He had a physical disability which made it 'easier' to evidence and even that was really hard to do. He was refused initially, same with PIP. It took 18 months from him being medically retired by his job, on the advice of the medical assessment he had through work, to get his PIP. I can't remember the time for ESA but it was a long hard slog. Have you any savings or help available?

@scoutingfor They actually owe me 2 months wages in unpaid overtime! I have been offered a GP sick note and am in a bad place mentally, but if the ESA people decide I am not ill enough would I be entitled to anything at all?

If you were turned down for ESA then you would need to claim universal credit or JSA instead. you could only claim UC if you have less than 16k in savings as it's means tested. If you have rent to pay then you might be better off claiming UC from the start .

You would need to provide medical evidence…as you haven’t gone off sick how is the gp to know you can’t do the job? Have you had any appointments with occupational health? If you just resign and leave then there is no paper trail other than your say so .I think you should take the sick leave and see how your anxiety responds, at least it gives you some time to decompress and investigate options.

Ps if they are owing you that much in unpaid overtime then it suggests you have been over working for a while, have you raised any issues with your manager? Why have you been working over time when you are struggling to do your core hours?

Babyroobs has covered main points. If they decide that you can work on ESA or universal credit it may well worth challenging. A month to ask for a mandatory re consideration and if not changed the appeal. (The reconsideration will often not change).

Citizens advice or another welfare rights service may be able to help you with the form for ESA. There are also tips on Gwent Integrated Autism Service about how things might be affecting you. A lot will not apply. I have autism and other conditions. I have not checked whether the sections are up to date but the examples would fit somewhere on the form.

a benefit adviser or sheet shows me how I live my life differently- it’s so ingrained I don’t even realise some things aren’t typical or how much it is affecting my quality of life. (For example at work I need to monitor myself to see if I might be talking too much or not enough. Most people don’t have that all day, they seem to know almost all the time.)

Thanks for your posts. I think I will accept the sick note and then resign because the thought of going back there is intolerable.

I actually work part time but have to work full time when my job share colleague is off. They haven't paid me for these extra hours for about 3 years, so it has built up. I have raised my anxiety issues with my manager quite a few times but I don't get much response because she works from home and is too busy.

Thanks for your message. That link is really helpful. Do you find that as an Autistic person you mask so much just to keep your job that it can count against you because your manager thinks you must be coping?

I still think you should go through the sickness process at your work (unless you are financially supported by eg. a spouse)as you can’t guarantee at this point any eligibility for benefits if you choose to resign from work. It sounds like you have been unable to be proactive about your working hours for a long while and ,again, I think this is an important point to note when you are seeking extra support . As you have been able to be employed for 12 yrs (albeit at a cost to your mental health) it might be that if you seek work elsewhere in a role that suits you better, you might be able to achieve a better balance in future.are you married or do you live with someone else who provides financial support ? I don’t want you to end up without income and have the pressure of having to take any job to make end meet!

It sounds like your line manager hasn't taken your anxiety seriously. I agree that you need to go off sick initially, raise the issues that are causing you stress and see if they can be resolved. Not least that they haven't paid you for the hours you have worked.

If they can't resolve all the problems then you can look at resigning or for work elsewhere that can do reasonable adjustments.

I still think you should go through the sickness process at your work (unless you are financially supported by eg. a spouse)as you can’t guarantee at this point any eligibility for benefits if you choose to resign from work.

I would highly recommend this as well, DH did and even then he had a fight on his hands when he eventually lost his job. Right down to the PIP assessor using 'because you worked as X until recently, it demonstrates you can do Y' - no, not it actually didn't and the whole reason he lost his job was because he could no longer do Y. Or ABCED...

He had several periods of long term sickness for about 6 years, he has been off 6 months and both assessed and 'treated' by a specialist through work. Even that wasn't enough. It was a hugely stressful time and I was out working 10 hour days 6 days a week whilst juggling the kids nursery/school/after school and breakfast club AND coming home and caring for DH who was essentially abandoned whilst this was all ongoing.

If you can follow the sickness procedure through work it will help you gather more evidence - it's hard enough with that let alone without

I’m lucky I don’t need to mask too much during my actual work. It’s meetings that aren’t as structured that I struggle. Currently don’t have reasonable adjustments for ASD but manager knows.