Good jobs for an unreliable person...?

[Pegs11]

Hi, I have a long-term health condition that means I am too sick to work. However, I would like to go back to work when I’m (hopefully) feeling a bit better... I do feel I am making some progress here with new treatment... so far so good... well, it’s sort of two steps forward, one step back... but I’m keeping everything crossed that I’ll continue making progress.

But, if I’m being honest, the nature of my health condition means I am probably ALWAYS going to be somewhat unreliable... I never know how I’m going to feel on any given day, and both my energy levels and mental capacity can fluctuate a lot. I am unlikely to ever make a complete recovery in this regard.

I wouldn’t be able to handle a job with lots of pressure... it would need to be something where I don’t have a huge amount of responsibility, lots of deadlines etc, as I wouldn’t be able to cope with this.

Are there ANY jobs that would be good for a person such as myself?

What is the market like at the moment for home-based positions? Honestly something like data entry or document uploading would be perfect for me (but I suspect most of that work is outsourced abroad now...)

Just trying to get some ideas and maybe give myself a bit of hope that I might be employable in the future!

(My background is in journalism/publishing/editing but I doubt I would be able to do something so high-pressure now.)

Thank you

Hello. I looked into things like clerk to school governors or appeals panels , which was a few hours a month at most. If you could be reliable enough to attend a 2 hour evening appointment by resting in the day it could work out. All the admin paperwork needs to be done in between meetings to hit a deadline but it could be phased.

Here's a link which details usual duties www.nga.org.uk/Clerking/Find-us-a-clerk/Schools-with-a-vacancy.aspx

I thought it looked like a stable ish role but one which wasn't too many hours. As your condition hopefully improves you could look to do more than one school in your local area.

You could work on your typing speed using Typing.com

My dh has a financial advisor business and they employed somebody in a business development role. Basically she would be ringing around looking for business leads. I can’t remember exactly what hours she was doing but it was maybe 1 or 2 days a week but she basically logged on when she started working and finished whenever. These days ended up changing due to childcare, however, as long as she did the hours each week it was fine. You could always ring local firms and offer your business development skills.

Hi all, so I’ve been thinking about all this and what I might be able to do within my mental and physical limitations. I reckon I’m probably well enough now to do a little work from home, and so I’m thinking of starting up a small business buying and selling things online. At least giving it a go.

The idea would be to start off small, probably with some help from my husband, and see how it goes, and hopefully grow the business over time and eventually come off benefits and support myself (if my health continues to improve of course).

I don’t need advice on as to the likelihood of my business succeeding ... but I do need advice about how I can go about trying this with the right level of support in place.

I’m currently on higher rate ESA. The question is, will DWP support me and help me get off the ground with my business?

I know they SAY they will help people to come off benefits and support them while they are doing so... But do they actually, in reality?

Or could I end up being worse off?

This is a real worry for me... I will really struggle to live I’m on less than what I’m currently receiving in benefits. I worry about them turning around and saying well, if you’re well enough to work (even if just a few hours a month), then you’re no longer entitled to higher rate ESA.

If I’m no longer entitled to higher rate ESA, I’m not sure whether they would give me ANYTHING in the way of support, because my husband works.

But we would really struggle financially without SOME help, given that I would only be able to work part-time in a job without a steady income.

anything where you can decide your own hours/when to work, that doesn’t expect a huge number of hours per week or month, and where there are no right deadlines in case illness doesn’t allow you to meet them. There should be many jobs that fit this, especially as so many people are working from home. Unfortunately, times will be tough for unemployed people for some time because of the economy and market. Good luck OP! Be in it to win it as they say x

Just saw your last post. It depends what kind of business. Running your own (as I have done) can be incredibly stress-inducing as so much repsonsibility falls on you. I have friends who run their own who literally don’t put their phone down and can be firefighting or speaking to clients or any such thing during a meal out. It is hard work.

Hi @MakingPlans21, thanks for your reply. I’d just be buying and selling and starting off small, unless or until I’m well enough to expand. The biggest issue would be getting to the post office if I’m ill, but I can always get a family member to go for me. I just want to know if DWP will support me. I still have very limited capacity for work. But if I’m earning anything (even if only from working ten hours a month), I worry they will deem me not entitled to their help and will cut me off.

www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Employment-and-Support-Allowance-Permitted-Work/What-is-permitted-work-Employment-and-Support-All

May be some help OP? I’d check with your work coach (if that’s the correct term) or maybe with CAB.

On a separate note, I know a few people who do Just Eat/Deliveroo in their spare time and you just work when you like.

Book-keeping/accounts can be flexible like that as in the work needs to be done at some stage during the month.

Could you train yourself in something like web design, graphic design, photo editing?

I know people who make some money from things like designing logos, PhotoShopping people's children's photos onto digit backgrounds - e.g space, dinosaurs, and even someone who picks a group of people (e.g photographers), checks random websites and sends them an email telling them how many spelling and grammatical error are in their website and offers to highlight the errors for £x or correct the errors for £xx amount.

I have no idea how much anyone makes from the above, and I know you are looking for a steady wage, but there might be something along those lines that you could make profitable.