Older and with a sickness history? Is your best hope to lie about it.

Who knows.

Outside one of the North London jobcentres this week, I spoke with woman in her early 50s who signs on for JSA and works for several hours a week as a cleaner (she’s one of the many people I meet at jobcentres who must claim JSA because they need to subsidise the crap wages they’re pulling at low-paid, part-time work). This woman said she once worked as a dinner lady, but had to leave that job, because she has a heart condition (an enlarged heart and an erratic heartbeat, etc). She said that getting up at six o’clock in the morning for the cleaning job was a struggle, because of her heart problems. But hey. That’s us today. Nobody cares about older women with heart conditions. They can still drag a vaccum-cleaner about between pains and palpitations. Needless to say, this woman had been chucked off ESA, because she’d been found fit for work.

She said that a family member found the cleaning job for her. She felt that getting work through family and friends was her only real option, because of her sickness history. She didn’t think that she was likely to land anything substantial through more formal job application routes. Her health and her sickness record worked against her. Anyone who has ever got a job knows that you usually have to give your new employer your sickness record and sign some sort of declaration – and that your last employer can even be contacted by your new one for your sickness history. Depends a bit on where you work and how robust HR is, I guess, but I think we can safely say that it can be hard to leave your sickness history behind. This woman said that she’d even been told by an adviser somewhere that her best shot was to play her sickness record down, or to not really mention it until she had to, or something along those lines. So – that was great.

Does make me wonder, you know. I wonder how many older people out there with health problems are thrown off ESA and into this twilight-y world where they get a bit of JSA, and then a bit of cleaning work and a bit of caring work in places where nobody asks too many questions/will take them on to do someone a favour. I wonder how many people are spending their later years on that circuit.

12 thoughts on “Older and with a sickness history? Is your best hope to lie about it.

  1. Pingback: Woman, 52, Found Fit For Work And Told To Play Down Sickness History To Employers | Same Difference

  2. I was also told by a Job Centre advisor not to mention my diabetes and one kidney as it could be detrimental to my job searching. I quickly pointed out that as I’m on insulin, and I legally have to declare that fact to the DVLA, shouldn’t I point it out to a possible employer? What would happen if I didn’t tell them, and then had a hypo? How would I be treated if I was lying unconcious, but hadn’t told my boss?

    • It’s a really interesting point. I was under the impression that you could get in a fair bit of bother if you didn’t declare your sickness record or misrepresented your situation, not to mention as you say the health realities of the situation. If people don’t know that you have a health issue, how are they supposed to help you if you need support? Could be dangerous. I had to fill in amazingly lengthy health history forms for some jobs. Totally bizarre that jobcentre advisers would recommend that. Exactly what this woman said though. She was wondering how and why she was supposed to keep this all secret. So that excludes her from a whole bunch of jobs. Which she very likely should not have had to think about anyway, except for glorious Atos.

  3. By not declaring that you are disabled you risk losing the protection of the Equality Act. An employer can discriminate against you and then claim they simply weren’t aware you are a disabled person. It also means an employer will not be required to make reasonable adjustments in order to ensure you can do your job. It is indefensible for the DWP to pressure people into concealing their impairments and health records.

  4. This will be the life of many pensioners after 2016,
    who will be on this reducing welfare state for life,
    as the state pension
    may indeed be lost altogether
    for huge numbers of men and women.

    See why, under my petition, in my WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT section at:
    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/state-pension-at-60-now

    And may also care, please, to sign the bigger petition that
    set me off when I saw the flat rate pension was the worse to come, that will be presented in mid March to parliament:
    http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/statepensionlaw

  5. Re disability and health disclosures on forms, ironically in 2005 after my jobcentre Disability Employment Adviser issued me a ‘referral’ letter to present to A4e toward a course enquiry, before I would be seen in interview I was obliged to run a health disclosure gauntlet by form checklists re whether I was on any medication and whether I had a history of epilepsy, etc before I would be seen by interviewer.
     
    They seemed to be only interested in health history and apparently could not give a toss about disability matters.
    They also had the cheek to ask on that form why the enquirer might have had difficulties finding waged employment, without A4e acknowledging that disability discrimination might be a factor.
     
    So by the time after answering several questions about my health and having been frustrated at A4e’s apparent indifference to give ‘customer/learner-friendly’ signposting info online or by leaflet about the course I had been referred to them for, I gave them short shrift at the interview because they did not meet the standards I required of a prospective course provider. That was in ‘the good old days’ when a JSA claimant in part-time waged employment with declared hours could not be sanctioned for such behaviour.

  6. Pingback: Zero | Gabriel Vents

  7. It’s not just pensioners. At 39, I am in constant pain due to an RTA a few years ago. This last year, I have lost two jobs, both after just three months, due to my pain. And I am not registered as disabled.

  8. In amongst all the urgent talks between EU and the new Greece government, came a blog article that informed that this year the German government is considering for their German people:

    – raising the minimum wage,
    – cutting the retirement age, and
    – raising the state pension money.

    The German economy is doing well and we are told so is the UK’s.

    There are 1 million men and women in the UK aged
    between 60 and 64
    who are on some kind of welfare.

    They are equally liable for sanctioning off both JSA and ESA, loss of housing benefit, Bedroom Tax and workfare.

    If Labour wants this 1 million grey vote, then they can do what Germany intends to do this year.

    Labour funds the above because the 1 million 60-65 year old people would not be on welfare and save on welfare admin bills, which costs tens of billions for us all.

    Give all pensioners £278.10 per week state pension as well as those between 60-65 not yet in receipt of state pension in 2015.

    Then as it is us older folk who tend to shop in town centres, we would generate youth jobs in more shops, so more business rates for cash strapped councils, who in turn could employ young people.

    With a raised minimum wage, this again generates business growth in the local community and business rates for cash strapped councils who could help foodbanks more.

    With more money in the hands of people, you get more jobs and more tax from the 75 per cent of all tax that comes from stealth indirect taxes and VAT.

    Will Labour be as smart as the Germans, being allowed by the EU to do that, when it was an EU Directive that raised the retirement age throughtout the EU member states?

    Because the Labour vote could be eaten into not just by a SNP that will ensure a Labour government anyway, but by a lot of little parties that offer something to the starving poor of all ages.
    http://www.anastasia-england.me.uk

  9. it seems once again rtu ids brown shirts are sprouting out rubbish if one didnt tell a employer about your disability then you could be fined by the courts whot if one damaged propety or god forbid injured another worker through ones disability its unbeleavible how they can and do one should go with your phone on record so that they cant make one out a liar has ud be going to my mp with the recording of them jeff3

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