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Benefit Payment

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jack&jill

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My son (34) was type 2 for 3 years but recently has been put on 2 injections daily. He is missing a lot of days at work and does not be paid for time off. Is there any help from the benefit system for him. He has 3 young children under 7 ( he is coeliac and his eldest daughter ( 6) is as well) and a wife.


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Nope! Diabetes doesn't effect people from working unless it renders them disabled.

I had 1 and 1/2 days off sick when i was diagnosed with T1 and never had a day off since.

Some people take lots of sick days and others not so many.

Unfortunately I sometimes neglect my diabetes at the expense of work but at the end of the day I have a mortgage to pay etc. Your health does come first but whats the point of health without the life. It is a balancing act.

I hope your son gets better. But the state won't give you anything...
 
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jack&jill said:
My son (34) was type 2 for 3 years but recently has been put on 2 injections daily. He is missing a lot of days at work and does not be paid for time off. Is there any help from the benefit system for him. He has 3 young children under 7 ( he is coeliac and his eldest daughter ( 6) is as well) and a wife.


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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

I can't really help with your question but I think the best place to go is the citizens advice, they will know if there is anything your son is entitled to. It can't be good for his overall health if he is worrying about money for his family, we all need a little helping hand sometime, hope is is feeling better soon
 
Don't think he would be entitled to anything. Only thing is, as hes recently on insulin think that would cover him from any punishment from having reasonable time off to adjust though unpaid

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Hello Jack & Jill
All people are different all cases are not the same!
All Diabetes are different some will faces issues no matter how hard they try! and on this very website it has a WHOLE BIT about help and info about work and benefits about PIP which use to be called DLA and ESA from the DWP website with in the one of the questions it asked how the person is with or does the person have Diabetic hypos and has the never black out!!

Am a Type 1 Diabetic am not claiming anything as of yet and hope I never will or ever have too!! But there is help out there,If Your son needs it am 19 and If my mum was asking this question for myself I could only think how worried she would be!

My Sister is Type 1 also is 17 in college and gets DLA.....Tho as I said all are different my sister is not the 'best' diabetic has way to many DKAs and has been in hospital far to much! And when you've had this nasty illness from the age of 5 it's going to take it's toll!!

Here's the Links

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-and-employment.html

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/international/benefits/employment-and-support/

Hope this helps.
 
Hi , sorry to hear your son's problems.I am type 1 and I have had to have a lot of time off work due to extreme exhaustion caused by my high levels etc.Unfortunately all I was entitled to was Statutory sick pay which works out at about 90 - 100 pounds a week...better than nothing but not a lot when you have a family relying on you like your son and myself have.I sincerely hope he feels better as the added worry of money along with the diabetes,tiredness etc can be overwhelming.At least he has you caring and trying to help.All the best Richard
 
Just wondered what medication OP's son was using before changing to 2 injections (presumably insulin) a day? If he's changed from tablets, then I wonder why he's been put on relatively inflexible bimodal insulin, instead of 1 or 2 x long acting insulin and 3 x short acting insulin with meals. While there may be no financial benefits available, anyone with a diagnosis of coeliac disease, whether adult or child, should be prescribed a certain amount of gluten free food per week, and as all children, and adults on mefication for diabetes (plus some other conditions) get free prescriptions in England, then they would not pay for this food, which costs more than equivalent food with gluten.

Definitely worth your son (por his wife) onsulting Citizens Advice Bureua or welfare rights, whatever they have in their area, to check what the situation is - DLA is being replaced by PIP for working age adults in some areas, but children can still claim DLA, and depending on other conditions of amount of care provided and wages earned, an adult might be able to claim Carer's Allowance.
 
Don't think there's any benefit available to cover this type of situation the way you've described it. But with 3 kids your son could be eligible or even in receipt of some kind of Tax Credit either working tax or child tax credits, together with CB to help cover family costs. If his household income is below a certain level he may be entilted to claim HB or LHA, but not sure if this can be done on an ad hoc basis, eg days off here and there.? .

Benefits cover minimum household expenses only, eg rent, basic food etc, not general houshold expenses most of us have , so tend not to be of much use for this type of situation. Why is your son having so much regular time off? Perhaps he needs to take a week or 2 off to get his diabetic control sorted out, instead of days here and there.? .

He is unlikley to be able to claim PIP for diabetes alone unless he has significant care or mobility needs. And the same applies to your grandchild., Care needs must be significantly more than the average child of that age. Whether requiring gluten free diet would fulfill that need or not, I couldn't venture to say, but perhaps posting for advice on a coeliac forum might give some ideas?
 
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