Just decided to leave work - what next please?????

[essbee]

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essbee- you need to get some proper advice. Phone the CAB. I think that you should get your doctor to sign you off work. Don't think you should just leave- unsure what the situation would be with any help you may or may not get. If I were you I'd phone the CAB tomorrow for advice

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Hi, essbee - Do you feel well enough for work? I mean - do you think you're well enough to work every day that you're due to for, say, the next 2 weeks? If not, then I think you should be signed off sick by your gp. I don't know much about your work situation, but I think your gp should be your first port of call regarding this. Also, you need to consider the financial impact and I agree absolutely that your health is the most important thing. Maybe if you were to have some time off sick, you'd feel better at the end (this sounds all wrong, but I know what I mean!) and then you could consider it and look into it all before making a decision?

my step aunt works for DWP and has tons of experience with benefits - quite high up, writes lots of training materials. she is on hols abroad till this weekend, but I will try and speak to her this weekend about it if you like.

my first thought would be if you could get signed off with depression and claim any sort of incapacity benefit. but I know very very little about benefits so that might be completely the wrong thing to do...

i would try and stall your work until you have had a chance to speak to somebody like CAB, just in case, as pixiefish says, they way that your employment ends has any significant in benefit terms.

i think you are doing absolutely the right thing as well. if you do go back to work, you need somewhere that's more supportive to you and your family's needs - atm you seem to have all the disadvantages of a small co in terms of pressure on you to return, and none of the advantages of leeway/sick pay etc.

I was pushed out of my job when 17 weeks pregnant - so it's not like I had much of a choice, but I also felt the weight lift. Once I didn't work anymore I felt so much better that I realised how upset and angry my job made me.

I can't help you with benefits etc. as I am in NZ, but just wanted you to know that you should at least try not working for a bit and see if it helps you.

If you are signed off,you would be able to claim incapacity benefit (only about £55 a week though).If you have been self employed,you can't claim contribution based JSA,but may be eligable for income based JSA,if you are the sole breadwinner for your family.This should then allow you to claim housing benefit,top up benefits ect.

I found the Jobcentre very helpful about what to claim & how to go about it,when I was in a similar situation

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Essbee, how old are your children? If you are a lone parent with child/ren under the age of 16, you are not required to be available for work and might therefore be entitled to income support - which is a passport to other benefits too.

Could you explain a little more about your self-employed status? From what you have written, it sounds as though you are an employee, but you say you are self-employed. If self-employed, how are you contracted to whoever pays you? Could they not simply terminate your contract? This would avoid any issues about whether you have voluntarily given up work, which would incur penalties wrt income support.

nop advice, essbee, but good luck. I've a feeling, from reading other posts of yours, that you have some quite in demand skills. I think, if you feel this particular job is bringing you down, you should follow your instincts. In the next few weeks, while you are off work, could you visit some employment agencies, even get signed on with them, just to test the waters to see what's available?

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Just got thru to my step aunt.

She says you should claim INCAPACITY BENEFIT, this is contributions based (i.e you get it if you've paid enough tax/NI over the years) and it won't be affected by your maintenance. She doesn't know tax credits would fit in.

She says that you need to find out whether you can just drop in and make an appointment at your job centre, or phone up. either way, the quickest thing to do is to go for an interview with a financial adviser there, who'll go thru it all with you, and what you'ld be entitled to etc.

HTH

Hi

Where do I start? I hoping someone out there might be able to offer me some advice, I am a part time working mum, I have just been told that I am being made redundant from my well paid job, My daughter is 18 months old and I was also made redundant from my last job when I was 8 months pregnant, when my daughter was born I suffered from bad depression but my husband did not realise as I am good at hiding things but this was a big mistake as it made me very ill. We own our own house and I am the main bread winner, my husband is disabled and claims DLA. I am not well enough to even thinking about going for other interviews and this is not really a option as to earn the money we need my daughter would have to go into full time childcare and i could not cope with this, so we have decided to sell the house, we will not come out with any profit so i need to know what benefits or help i should receive, I have always worked so i really dont know what to do?

bump.

sorry Cluck, don't really know. If you are too depressed to work, I'ld have thought you would be able to claim incapacity if your GP signed you off as sick. You'ld be best off getting an appointment with CAB or a Benefits Agency financial adviser to talk thru what you would be entitled to.

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