Featured story

Francesca was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the beginning of high school.  She has previously pursued higher education, although her health condition has always made this difficult. Francesca has also found it very difficult to hold down a job as she has had many surgeries and her health condition makes her feel tired and can be quite painful.

Crohn’s disease means that Francesca cannot work for long shifts, and can be in a lot of discomfort if she does not look after her health properly. Having this condition had knocked her confidence in the working world.

Francesca described Into Work as immediately understanding and positive about her future. We were able to find jobs that matched Francesca’s skill-set as well as jobs that fit around her health condition. We were able to help her complete applications as well as boost her confidence through interview preparation.  Into Work helped her get a job in administration in the voluntary sector that supports vulnerable adults with housing problems get the help they need.

Francesca is now less isolated and enjoys getting out of her home to go to work. Her self-confidence has been boosted and she now feels like she belongs somewhere.

The extra income means that Francesca now feels she is more financially independent and no longer relies on her fiancé to buy things for her.

Bobby is single, in his 50’s, has both physical and mental health issues and has been on long term benefits for years.

Bobby’s benefit situation was very complicated, and included Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Industrial Injury Disablement Benefit (IIDB), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Housing Benefit(HB) and Council Tax Rebate (CTR).

Bobby didn’t really understand much about these benefits and who could blame him.

Bobby was working with an Into Work Employment Adviser to help him get back into work.  However,  he had specific concerns about how he would manage if he had to come off his benefits to get a job and then things didn’t work out.

These were the things that were worrying him:

1. Would he struggle to physically and mentally manage the work?
2. If he started working, would he lose his benefits?  If his job didn’t work out it would be time-consuming and stressful going through the process of claiming his benefits again.
3. He might be financially worse off in work .  He might have to work full-time to make it economically viable.

Into Work’s Welfare Rights Officer spent time with Bobby, outlining his options, and explaining there was no need to worry.

1. Bobby could start by working part-time to see how he coped.  If he worked up to 16 hours a week and didn’t earn more than £120 a week, his entitlement to benefits wouldn’t be affected.  He would just get his wages plus his current benefit entitlement.
2. If Bobby did then choose to end his benefit claim and start working he would still qualify for DLA and IIDB and probably some HB as well.  And, if it was not working out, he could “link” his ESA claim (up to 12 weeks later) and go straight back to the same benefits he was on before with no need to make a stressful new claim.   Into Work’s Welfare Rights Officer helped  smooth out the transition for Bobby by talking to the benefit agencies and assisting with any new applications.
3. The Welfare Rights Officer talked Bobby through some “better off in work” scenarios showing his financial circumstances from 5 hours a week to 16, 30,  up to full time and in every single scenario he was better off “in work”, significantly better off in most cases.

This was all news to Bobby and his problems, or at least his benefits problems, were now solved, leaving him and his Into Work Employment Adviser free to focus on finding him a job.

Paula experiences chronic fatigue and hadn’t worked for almost 2 years. With a background in academic research she had previous contacts in her field and in fact a potential interview offer – but she couldn’t feel excited by this due to fear and apprehension. She had no idea how to bring up her condition with any new employer and talk about workplace adjustments. Also by the time she tentatively came to Into Work she was feeling very low and lacking in confidence about the prospect of ever using her qualifications or paying her mortgage again and was not sure what to expect from us at all.

She and her Employment Adviser worked together using different tools – to help her reflect on her skills and abilities as well as recognise what was realistic in terms of work hours, environment and travel to help prevent any relapse and achieve a useful work/life balance. This knowledge giving her a feeling of control again.

Paula wanted to be able to communicate directly with the employer so her Employment Adviser, having helped her recognise her worth, also helped her understand her right to ask for adjustments and see that these could be quite reasonable requests. She was also coached about how to approach the subject and at which point in the recruitment process to make sure she was protected by The Equality Act. This gave her the confidence to go for it.

Paula has now been in post 4 months and can admit that she is still finding 20 hours a week a challenge. She also has to remain confident and remind her boss about her needs when they are forgotten on occasion. But the will is there for it to work and it’s a learning curve for both parties. She also has the continued support of her Into Work Employment Adviser with access to regular meetings to discuss work and how best to support herself and communicate with colleagues.

I was very scared when I came to Into Work. I felt completely despondent and scared that my health problems meant I’d never be able to use my qualifications or pay my mortgage again. But Into Work didn’t try to push me into stacking shelves. They worked really, really hard to persuade me that I still had a lot to offer work and to boost myself respect enough that I could put on a suit, go back on the job market and negotiate reasonable adjustments when I got the offer.

I’ve now been in post 4 nearly months. Physically, I do find working 20 hours a week hard, and sticking up for myself when my bosses don’t understand my condition is challenging. But I’m not on my own with that. Into Work have provided regular meetings where we discuss what’s going on at work and how I can best support myself and communicate with colleagues.

James is a man with a long work history. He once worked for an oil and gas company as a pipe-coater. He had an accident at work which resulted in him losing a limb – his right leg in fact. This career was over for him.

James has a strong work ethic though, so losing a leg didn’t stop him wanting to get another job. He went on to work in two or three assembly line production jobs, each for a long spell. However, he was made redundant, not for the first time, and had been out of work for almost two years when he came to Into Work.

I’m sure James would be happy to be described as one of our more ‘mature’ clients and so was a little hesitant about the effort it might take to find the right job. He was also wary of being ‘pushed’ into something inappropriate. But he had come to the right place. Into Work’s service is all about the person.

James’ adviser went into some depth with him about what his skills were to establish the real breadth of his experience – beyond his employment history – and so widen his options.

There wasn’t much scope around manufacturing or assembly in the area for him. This was partly because he was now looking for part-time hours, but he was encouraged by the discussions around his ‘hidden talents’, with DIY for instance, and persuaded to look at other things. He did have some rejections and wanted to give up but our Welfare Rights Adviser assessed his situation and existing disability benefits and advised that even part-time work would make a distinct difference to his pension circumstances when he eventually did retire.

His employment adviser reassured him and used different ways to approach applying for jobs to help him get around possible discrimination or rejection due to competition from other candidates.

James applied for a job with a trade tool and hardware retailer. He had tried applying to them himself before but was thwarted by the online recruitment process. His adviser helped him make a direct approach to his preferred branch. A simple move and worth a try. They could have said no – applications have to be done online. However, the branch manager was pleasantly surprised by this effort and show of enthusiasm and invited James to interview.

He was offered the job the same day.

Frances came to us as a graduate web developer. She had been freelancing for a few years but was looking for part-time work. As she has ME – sometimes known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – which results in fluctuations in symptoms and energy levels, she didn’t feel able to take on a full-time role. She needed help with finding and getting the right part-time job and explaining her condition to an employer.

Her Into Work Employment Adviser researched what technical skills and profile would be expected for a salaried role in this field within a private sector organisation.  Various companies were then approached to see if they would offer her an unpaid placement. Her CV was updated at this stage.

The aim of the placement was to allow Frances to gain experience and confidence, as well as self-awareness in terms of e.g. stamina. It also offered validation of her creative and technical ability by way of a reference to take forward and add to a CV for future job applications. All this would increase her chances of gaining paid work.

Frances was offered a placement in a web and graphic design company. They were very open to making the adjustments she needed to perform at her best, for example, with flexible hours and regular breaks. Nothing ground-breaking but so effective. She settled in really well and, after only 8 weeks, was offered a part-time paid position! This is unusual but very welcome when it happens – and is a great way for both candidate and employer get to know and understand each other. This can be very beneficial for all and less stressful than traditional recruitment methods.

Frances feels really happy to be in her first salaried career job!