Strike Action - Views

[JMorgan]

Hi Gill, very sorry to hear about everything you've gone through.
I receive the lower rate of PIP while my severely disabled wife receives higher rate PIP

I'm absolutely not trying to put you off applying, but in the sense that fore-warned is fore-armed, just be aware that the whole process can be a pretty huge source of stress in its own right. The crucial thing is therefore how you approach the whole process and the most important thing in that context is to get support in place BEFORE you start even thinking very hard about it.

I have M.E. which is well known for being an automatic rejection for PIP, with most cases going to tribunal. Knowing that in advance would have helped me measure my expectations rather than going through the fairly hellish process of repeated rejection and appeal until, 18 months later, I was finally treated like a human being at the tribunal hearing. By far the most valuable source of guidance and support came from an online forum specifically focused on supporting people with M.E. - they were able to tell me (I only found out about them very late in the process) what to expect and what supporting evidence would carry most weight. By contrast the CAB 'specialist' in supporting PIP applications was almost useless because she had zero understanding of my health condition. YMMV of course.

For example, I was shocked to learn that the DWP pretty much discounts evidence presented by your G.P. because they assume that your G.P. has very little insight into how your condition affects your life day by day and also that your G.P. will be biased in your favour. This was a huge blow as my G.P. at the time was exceptionally well-informed, having been our family doctor for over 15 years.

By contrast a half an hour conversation with an occupational therapist which resulted in a letter I could present as evidence, seems to have carried infinitely more weight. That's totally absurd, but it's a broken system being run by people who are incentivised to reject as many applications as possible. Knowing that in advance would have been helpful - and possibly allowed me to take the rejections a bit less personally.

That said, my wife's disabilities, extensive and detailed medical history and the evidence that was immediately available from a broad range of medical and health professionals, made her application relatively straightforward - though that was now many years ago.

My point is that whatever your health conditions are, in the first place, seek out and connect with others who have already been through this process. Then treat it as much as possible as an administrative exercise, detaching and de-personalising wherever possible, because that is ALL it is as far as the DWP is concerned, no matter how 'nice', 'understanding' and 'sympathetic' the person on the end of the phone might appear or sound. They are not the ones making the decision!

In other words, the DWP will treat you like a number, so armour yourself with cynicism and gather your resources and support system so you have a solid foundation, before you even bother picking up the phone to apply. That said, remember that when you are awarded PIP, it's the date of that application that the award will be back-dated to. With the benefit of hindsight I can say with perfect honesty that they managed to intimidate me into NOT applying for about 5 years during which time I was eligible for PIP, which represents many thousands of pounds of support I will never receive. Senior management at DWP will see that as a successful disincentive strategy, not the utter failure to support people with disabilities it really is.

 

[Gill]

Hi Gill, very sorry to hear about everything you've gone through.
I receive the lower rate of PIP while my severely disabled wife receives higher rate PIP

I'm absolutely not trying to put you off applying, but in the sense that fore-warned is fore-armed, just be aware that the whole process can be a pretty huge source of stress in its own right. The crucial thing is therefore how you approach the whole process and the most important thing in that context is to get support in place BEFORE you start even thinking very hard about it.

I have M.E. which is well known for being an automatic rejection for PIP, with most cases going to tribunal. Knowing that in advance would have helped me measure my expectations rather than going through the fairly hellish process of repeated rejection and appeal until, 18 months later, I was finally treated like a human being at the tribunal hearing. By far the most valuable source of guidance and support came from an online forum specifically focused on supporting people with M.E. - they were able to tell me (I only found out about them very late in the process) what to expect and what supporting evidence would carry most weight. By contrast the CAB 'specialist' in supporting PIP applications was almost useless because she had zero understanding of my health condition. YMMV of course.

For example, I was shocked to learn that the DWP pretty much discounts evidence presented by your G.P. because they assume that your G.P. has very little insight into how your condition affects your life day by day and also that your G.P. will be biased in your favour. This was a huge blow as my G.P. at the time was exceptionally well-informed, having been our family doctor for over 15 years.

By contrast a half an hour conversation with an occupational therapist which resulted in a letter I could present as evidence, seems to have carried infinitely more weight. That's totally absurd, but it's a broken system being run by people who are incentivised to reject as many applications as possible. Knowing that in advance would have been helpful - and possibly allowed me to take the rejections a bit less personally.

That said, my wife's disabilities, extensive and detailed medical history and the evidence that was immediately available from a broad range of medical and health professionals, made her application relatively straightforward - though that was now many years ago.

My point is that whatever your health conditions are, in the first place, seek out and connect with others who have already been through this process. Then treat it as much as possible as an administrative exercise, detaching and de-personalising wherever possible, because that is ALL it is as far as the DWP is concerned, no matter how 'nice', 'understanding' and 'sympathetic' the person on the end of the phone might appear or sound. They are not the ones making the decision!

In other words, the DWP will treat you like a number, so armour yourself with cynicism and gather your resources and support system so you have a solid foundation, before you even bother picking up the phone to apply. That said, remember that when you are awarded PIP, it's the date of that application that the award will be back-dated to. With the benefit of hindsight I can say with perfect honesty that they managed to intimidate me into NOT applying for about 5 years during which time I was eligible for PIP, which represents many thousands of pounds of support I will never receive. Senior management at DWP will see that as a successful disincentive strategy, not the utter failure to support people with disabilities it really is.

I Completely Understand.

Been there many times and been told by a panel of DWP that cause i walked unaided for 1 mins between the Office and the Bus stop to get home. Cheekily the bus stop was across the road from the DWP office with a clear View from their Room/Corridor. I qualified for No help whatsoever.
Covid hit and I got it, and it really affected me long term, so that i have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome now. And also the Ugly beast that is Parkinsons (have been on the wrong meds for too many years. and left with this also now.
Recently also been told that I am borderline for Type2 Diabetes. Had my Assessment on Thursday this week. And I made the guy Nervous Laugh at my responses to basic questions to improve my Diabetes. So he agreed to sign me off the service and wished me the best of luck going forward. this will be fed back to my new GP since moving back here to Cov.

I have forced myself to work by popping huge amounts of pills Daily, as did not want to go thru the humiliation of being assessed again and told NO. Being a high Masking 'Tism and AUDHD also doesn't help, As I bear thru most days without showing anything is wrong with me. The rare occasion the masks dropped and symptoms (too strong to hide) were visible they thought i was having a stroke. And then shocked how quickly i was normal again once symptoms stopped.

Recently made friends with someone who has FND and he has been telling me how horrible it has been to get any help. Since he fell and banged his head in Feb + lots of mini strokes. I can understand their symptoms as Vertigo Leaves you immobile at times and slurred speech. though i haven't had a Catatonic attack in over 10 years. That was a horrible 12+ hrs in A+E which ended with going home without any help.

So Yes, its going to be Hell, but also the Hell of looking for work again and trying to Mask it all to appear normal and able to work.

My WorkPlace, My Manager was really good and ordered loads of extra stuff to help facilitate me working in the office. He has also handed his notice in since the New Head of Department was appointed, And made it very clear he was the reasoning behind this. I have blocked him for now, as i just don't have the energy to speak with him after the last few days. I should have known it was going to be bad, has he was blanking me. I sat Opposite him.


Im Sat In my Office today suffering with a hellish Cluster Migraine. And Wish sometimes they had never started when i was not even 12. Never understood what they were till i moved to derby and the GP asked me about what i was seeing when chatting with him. As I kept darting to the corners of the room. I had no Idea what Auras were before then. And it all slotted into place. hate Auras and they can be Jarring to Experience the sudden blackness in your vision cause of them. Mine are Huge Spiders, Snowflakes and Red Stars. And he also saw the symptoms of PArkinsons in me very quickly.

 

[JMorgan]

I would strongly recommend not referring to your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as anything other than Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Again I'm being entirely cynical. They are exactly the SAME thing in terms of how they're experienced day by day, and are huge umbrella terms in any case, representing collections of signs and symptoms rather than a diagnosis. For me, Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome is by far the most accurate descriptor since I was well and then I got an insanely vicious virus and I've not been the same since - that was in 2013. However I've learned not to use that acronym either.

Because you're 99% of the time dealing with non-medical bureaucrats, the word 'fatigue' makes them think they know what youre talking about, and they think 'oh he means he's a bit tired . . . I get tired too!' So you get pigeon-holed as someone who is somewhere on the spectrum from very tired to extremely tired and in the process your very serious medical condition is distorted into something the bureaucrat now thinks isn't medical at all but just something they think they have a milder version of. By contrast they don't have a clue what to make of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

The other 1% of the time you're dealing with two possibilities: A medical professional with an idea of what M.E. is and who may have worked with some people with the condition, and someone who is completely ignorant but has at least heard of it. My experience is that the latter is by far the most common, but even then you insist on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis because all medical people are more impressed by Latin and Greek than plain English descriptions - it's hard-wired. It doesn't matter that if you look into the etymology of the Latin and Greek it actually doesn't begin to describe your day to day experience of living with the condition. It's just a more effective label.

When speaking I don't even use the M.E. acronym, but say the whole thing repeatedly because it's important to keep hammering it home. And yes it's a huge irony that I'm forcing myself to expend more energy, but it's all about efficient use of what pitifully small amounts of energy I have, and refusing to be pigeon-holed is worth every tiny bit!

The other big tip I can offer is to copy and paste your PIP answers multiple times onto separate sheets of paper, because they are read in isolation. For example, just because you've explained that you cannot do 'X' safely, reliably and repeatedly and in a timely manner, does NOT mean that they're going to apply the tiniest bit of common sense when considering your capability for doing 'Y' or 'Z' activity, even though they're almost the same thing as 'X' !!

They also conflate things all the time. For example, they'll ask how often you might be able to shower, because to them taking a shower is a single activity. So you have to help them understand that actually it is multiple activities when you have M.E. . . . none of which can be done repeatedly or in a timely manner:
1) Resting until you've gathered enough energy to make the attempt.
2) Getting undressed.
3) Resting from the exertions of getting undressed.
4) Walking to the shower
5) Resting from the exertion of walking to the shower.
6) Having a shower - which may only be possible because you have a shower seat (cite evidence from OT).
7) Resting from the exertion of having a shower.
8) Drying yourself
9) Resting from the exertion of drying yourself
10) Walking back to your bedroom
11) Resting from the exertion of walking back to your bedroom
12) Getting dressed
13) Resting from the exertion of getting dressed.
14) Spending the rest of the day resting in order to have enough energy to feed yourself hours later - which is again not a single activity!

Of course they also conflate activities in the sense that they completely fail to recognise that most people do activities successively - get up, get showered, eat breakfast, get to work. So you have to force them to acknowledge that each of those activities are in fact multiple activities requiring recuperative time in between. Also put numbers to everything you can. Shortest shower I've taken in the last five years took me about 3 hours start to finish and meant I couldn't do anything else that day.

Of course that's just one example, and the tempation is to assume that they have the imagination to extrapolate from what you've said about one activity and apply it to all the others. They don't. They're not paid to have imaginations or for empathy. They are very well paid to find reasons why you should not be supported.

This is why I came to think of it almost in terms of a military-esque campaign. The latest estimate I've read is that the UK treasury saves £23 Billion per year in unclaimed benefits because they've been so successful in intimidating people into not claiming them and making the process as convoluted and inaccessible as possible. Bottom line is, don't let the bastards grind you down.

Right I'm bolloxed for the day . . . hope it helps!

 

[Gill]

I would strongly recommend not referring to your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as anything other than Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Again I'm being entirely cynical. They are exactly the SAME thing in terms of how they're experienced day by day, and are huge umbrella terms in any case, representing collections of signs and symptoms rather than a diagnosis. For me, Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome is by far the most accurate descriptor since I was well and then I got an insanely vicious virus and I've not been the same since - that was in 2013. However I've learned not to use that acronym either.

Because you're 99% of the time dealing with non-medical bureaucrats, the word 'fatigue' makes them think they know what youre talking about, and they think 'oh he means he's a bit tired . . . I get tired too!' So you get pigeon-holed as someone who is somewhere on the spectrum from very tired to extremely tired and in the process your very serious medical condition is distorted into something the bureaucrat now thinks isn't medical at all but just something they think they have a milder version of. By contrast they don't have a clue what to make of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

The other 1% of the time you're dealing with two possibilities: A medical professional with an idea of what M.E. is and who may have worked with some people with the condition, and someone who is completely ignorant but has at least heard of it. My experience is that the latter is by far the most common, but even then you insist on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis because all medical people are more impressed by Latin and Greek than plain English descriptions - it's hard-wired. It doesn't matter that if you look into the etymology of the Latin and Greek it actually doesn't begin to describe your day to day experience of living with the condition. It's just a more effective label.

When speaking I don't even use the M.E. acronym, but say the whole thing repeatedly because it's important to keep hammering it home. And yes it's a huge irony that I'm forcing myself to expend more energy, but it's all about efficient use of what pitifully small amounts of energy I have, and refusing to be pigeon-holed is worth every tiny bit!

The other big tip I can offer is to copy and paste your PIP answers multiple times onto separate sheets of paper, because they are read in isolation. For example, just because you've explained that you cannot do 'X' safely, reliably and repeatedly and in a timely manner, does NOT mean that they're going to apply the tiniest bit of common sense when considering your capability for doing 'Y' or 'Z' activity, even though they're almost the same thing as 'X' !!

They also conflate things all the time. For example, they'll ask how often you might be able to shower, because to them taking a shower is a single activity. So you have to help them understand that actually it is multiple activities when you have M.E. . . . none of which can be done repeatedly or in a timely manner:
1) Resting until you've gathered enough energy to make the attempt.
2) Getting undressed.
3) Resting from the exertions of getting undressed.
4) Walking to the shower
5) Resting from the exertion of walking to the shower.
6) Having a shower - which may only be possible because you have a shower seat (cite evidence from OT).
7) Resting from the exertion of having a shower.
8) Drying yourself
9) Resting from the exertion of drying yourself
10) Walking back to your bedroom
11) Resting from the exertion of walking back to your bedroom
12) Getting dressed
13) Resting from the exertion of getting dressed.
14) Spending the rest of the day resting in order to have enough energy to feed yourself hours later - which is again not a single activity!

Of course they also conflate activities in the sense that they completely fail to recognise that most people do activities successively - get up, get showered, eat breakfast, get to work. So you have to force them to acknowledge that each of those activities are in fact multiple activities requiring recuperative time in between. Also put numbers to everything you can. Shortest shower I've taken in the last five years took me about 3 hours start to finish and meant I couldn't do anything else that day.

Of course that's just one example, and the tempation is to assume that they have the imagination to extrapolate from what you've said about one activity and apply it to all the others. They don't. They're not paid to have imaginations or for empathy. They are very well paid to find reasons why you should not be supported.

This is why I came to think of it almost in terms of a military-esque campaign. The latest estimate I've read is that the UK treasury saves £23 Billion per year in unclaimed benefits because they've been so successful in intimidating people into not claiming them and making the process as convoluted and inaccessible as possible. Bottom line is, don't let the bastards grind you down.

Right I'm bolloxed for the day . . . hope it helps!

I Never thought to extrapolate it the way in which you have just explained it to me in such detail.
And it makes perfect sense once i have heard it that way. I find that showering bathing in the hottest temp possible without burning helps me alot. as its also helping with the Artritis.
Yep sometimes simple tasks are so taxing cause your wiped out.
Like you can just be walking to the sink, and it just hits you like a massive sack of grain being thrown with full force at you. and you have to catch yourself and just rest. Or your just trying to do your hair and your arms decide not to work anymore.
I hate doing the weekly shop, and choose a store that has wider aisles so that's its easier to manoeuvre around people. and able to take a breather if necessary. Plus shopping will wipe me out and my DSD screams at me to sit down.So those days shopping is all i can muster. I don't do online, as always end up forgetting or buying too much. And with no short term memory it helps to wander up and down staring at stuff to remind me what i need. A shopping list will not help as i forget to look at it all the time.
With my Sciatica aswell, i have to minimise howlong the trip takes as that does impact what i can do.

Walking i can do most days if able, but the conditions all have to align for me to do that. The dog does not like when we cant go out.
I love the water and swimming, but that again is so taxing. I can barely manage 12 lengths in an hour.And the comedown from that is horrendous some days.

I just remember another one that Impacts me daily, which i absolutely Despise. I cannot stand for long as have DSD, Degenerative Spinal Disease which i found is hereditary from my dads side. Just standing at the sink to do the dishes is agony at times, as my limit is just a few minutes before the pain in my back becomes unbearable.
I have shrank a few inches over the years and gone from 5Ft8 to just over 5ft5 now. Was told at a young age that cage and rods would needed and i rejected that. As it would have confined me to wheelchair for life. And being the eldest of the family i couldn't do that with the responsibilities set upon me.
Im sat at the desk and typing but even that is hard most of the time with the arthritis. and i forget to sit right so then my back starts to remind me to sit properly or suffer the consequences.

 

[JMorgan]

Just to give you an idea, I ended up with about 20+ pages of supplemental typewritten notes with each note referenced to the relevant section of the PIP form. It was stupidly repetitious eventually, but when you've been rejected multiple times because you've written, "Yes I can have a shower, BUT . . . . " and they've totally ignored everything after the word "BUT" . . . then you learn to say, "No I cannot have a shower safely, reliably, repeatedly or in a timely manner. I have to set aside a day, once or twice a month (on a good month) when all I'm going to get done that day is having a shower, because it's an ordeal equivalent to four hours work, which then takes another four hours to recover from."

And then spell out AGAIN what is involved for YOU, and keep pointing out repeatedly, that doing 'x' activity will absolutely preclude the faintest possibility of doing 'y' activity that day or even that week. They got the point when I started replying, 'No I can't do that because I've been reliably informed by my doctors that eating at least one meal a day, is more important than being clean or changing my clothes!, So I shower when I think I can manage without a meal!'

You have to keep smashing down their concrete preconceptions on what having a shower, or going shopping, or walking 'x' number of metres involves, and the whole system is absolutely not set up to recognise that people who can walk 100 metres around a supermarket, have already been through hell just to get to the supermarket and who will then have to rest and recuperate in pain for hours, having finally got the shopping back home, before they can face putting the shopping away. And forget about cooking any of the food you've just bought!

Again I only found it possible to join the dots and make these assumptions and preconceptions clear when face to face talking to people at the tribunal. So possibly the whole business of writing reams of notes was a waste of time and energy, but I suspect my words at tribunal would have carried less weight without the paperwork to back it up, most especially supporting evidence from physios and occupational therapists, again repeating the same stuff over and over again.
I'm going to have to switch my laptop off, will check in again tomorrow.

 

[Gill]

Just to give you an idea, I ended up with about 20+ pages of supplemental typewritten notes with each note referenced to the relevant section of the PIP form. It was stupidly repetitious eventually, but when you've been rejected multiple times because you've written, "Yes I can have a shower, BUT . . . . " and they've totally ignored everything after the word "BUT" . . . then you learn to say, "No I cannot have a shower safely, reliably, repeatedly or in a timely manner. I have to set aside a day, once or twice a month (on a good month) when all I'm going to get done that day is having a shower, because it's an ordeal equivalent to four hours work, which then takes another four hours to recover from."

And then spell out AGAIN what is involved for YOU, and keep pointing out repeatedly, that doing 'x' activity will absolutely preclude the faintest possibility of doing 'y' activity that day or even that week. They got the point when I started replying, 'No I can't do that because I've been reliably informed by my doctors that eating at least one meal a day, is more important than being clean or changing my clothes!, So I shower when I think I can manage without a meal!'

You have to keep smashing down their concrete preconceptions on what having a shower, or going shopping, or walking 'x' number of metres involves, and the whole system is absolutely not set up to recognise that people who can walk 100 metres around a supermarket, have already been through hell just to get to the supermarket and who will then have to rest and recuperate in pain for hours, having finally got the shopping back home, before they can face putting the shopping away. And forget about cooking any of the food you've just bought!

Again I only found it possible to join the dots and make these assumptions and preconceptions clear when face to face talking to people at the tribunal. So possibly the whole business of writing reams of notes was a waste of time and energy, but I suspect my words at tribunal would have carried less weight without the paperwork to back it up, most especially supporting evidence from physios and occupational therapists, again repeating the same stuff over and over again.
I'm going to have to switch my laptop off, will check in again tomorrow.

yes because we are all different and one condition may not affect 10 people in the same way.

Don't get me started on putting the shopping away. I put a bench in the kitchen so that i can rest when i need to before/during/after putting the shopping away. doing the dishes etc.

I hate when CFS hits trying to hoover, the hoover goes to being this massive weight i can barely push and pull around the house. So i do it in stages of a room,floors per day. I wish I could hoover the whole house in one go, but cant. is just too much.

No worries rest up.

 

[greenbliss]

Hi Gill

I hate when CFS hits trying to hoover, the hoover goes to being this massive weight i can barely push and pull around the house. So i do it in stages of a room,floors per day. I wish I could hoover the whole house in one go, but cant. is just too much.
​

I wonder if you have tried not drinking milk. I have similar symptoms to what you have but I never went to a doctor but if I don't drink milk or eat cheese or yogurt or any dairy after a week or two I get my energy back. At least for the CFS thing. You can get soy milk at the supermarket which I think MIGHT be cheaper and healthier. For making porridge or whatever. Also no meat. Just eat fruit, veg, beans, potatoes and rice, brown bread, porridge, nuts and things like that but no sugar, meat, eggs or dairy!!! Maybe you can eat fish if you want. But other than that nothing else.

Also some people find cutting out bread helps. But I am pretty sure milk is more the problem.

I honestly have stopped going to the doctor because its so useless. Better just eat the right things. Now sticking to it is the hard part.

I am usually sort of bed ridden and if I stick to the diet I can start running after a week or two.

 

[Gill]

Hi Gill
I wonder if you have tried not drinking milk. I have similar symptoms to what you have but I never went to a doctor but if I don't drink milk or eat cheese or yogurt or any dairy after a week or two I get my energy back. At least for the CFS thing. You can get soy milk at the supermarket which I think MIGHT be cheaper and healthier. For making porridge or whatever. Also no meat. Just eat fruit, veg, beans, potatoes and rice, brown bread, porridge, nuts and things like that but no sugar, meat, eggs or dairy!!! Maybe you can eat fish if you want. But other than that nothing else.
Also some people find cutting out bread helps. But I am pretty sure milk is more the problem.
I honestly have stopped going to the doctor because its so useless. Better just eat the right things. Now sticking to it is the hard part.
I am usually sort of bed ridden and if I stick to the diet I can start running after a week or two.

I cant eat Fruit, Veg, Beans, Pulses, Brown Bread, Porridge, Nuts etc.
Safe foods for me are White Bread, Potatoes Cheese(Mild) dairy(milk Semi Skimmed) only for tea and small amounts of Red Meat and Chicken NO fish.
Tried Alternatives and they are vile so wont go back to them again. I know what i can eat without having to take alot of meds to counteract the side effects.
I was recently told I'm borderline type2 Diabetes, and during the initial consultation made the guy Nervous laugh. As i cant even make the basic dietary changes, So he signed me off the trial and said good luck.

 

[Chez_]

Hi Gill, I am so very sorry to read what you've been through over the last few weeks and I agree with JMorgan's input re PIP -- although I found the CAB very helpful with my application. They took the application to the appeals tribunal when it was knocked back.

I am chiming in because you mentioned being a carer and I haven't seen anyone mention Carers Allowance, which is £81-ish a week if you earn less than £195pw. Other than that it is not mean-tested. You are entitled to it if you are caring for someone for more than 35hrs PW, even if you are disabled yourself and it pays your stamp if you are not otherwise working.

I would also recommended Carer's UK for advice, who I think will do a benefits check for you, but you can also do one yourself at Turn 2 Us. Turn2us Benefits Calculator

I wish you all the best going forward.

Chez x

 

[Gill]

Hi Gill, I am so very sorry to read what you've been through over the last few weeks and I agree with JMorgan's input re PIP -- although I found the CAB very helpful with my application. They took the application to the appeals tribunal when it was knocked back.

I am chiming in because you mentioned being a carer and I haven't seen anyone mention Carers Allowance, which is £81-ish a week if you earn less than £195pw. Other than that it is not mean-tested. You are entitled to it if you are caring for someone for more than 35hrs PW, even if you are disabled yourself and it pays your stamp if you are not otherwise working.

I would also recommended Carer's UK for advice, who I think will do a benefits check for you, but you can also do one yourself at Turn 2 Us. Turn2us Benefits Calculator

I wish you all the best going forward.

Chez x

Thanks I asked, but it would be deducted from Dads benefits. And he wouldn't agree to that happening.

 

[Gill]

Update,

The Strike has not impacted the business in the way the Engineers wanted. As all the works are being handled by the subbies.

 

[Chez_]

Thanks I asked, but it would be deducted from Dads benefits. And he wouldn't agree to that happening.

The Severe Disability Premium? I'm not sure it's down to him though, you don't need his permission to apply -- although I can see in the interests of family harmony you might not want to 🙁. I'm sorry, it's so rubbish.

 

[greenbliss]

I cant eat Fruit, Veg, Beans, Pulses, Brown Bread, Porridge, Nuts etc.
Safe foods for me are White Bread, Potatoes Cheese(Mild) dairy(milk Semi Skimmed) only for tea and small amounts of Red Meat and Chicken NO fish.
Tried Alternatives and they are vile so wont go back to them again. I know what i can eat without having to take alot of meds to counteract the side effects.
I was recently told I'm borderline type2 Diabetes, and during the initial consultation made the guy Nervous laugh. As i cant even make the basic dietary changes, So he signed me off the trial and said good luck.

That does make sense Gill. Honestly I like the alternatives but it is an acquired taste. I just eat for health now not for enjoyment anymore but it is hard. I do miss the butter and milk and things like that.