Well. Maybe I Should Be A Free-loader And Take, Take Take.

[Deleted member 20280]

I lost my job last August 14 th as a direct result of not being able to control my anxieties, flashbacks and suicidal feelings. ** I am not in a good place as I write this so please bear with me **.

Today I had an initial interview with an outreach support worker to identify 'IF' they could assist me with more suitable accommodation as where I am currently living is probably the singular biggest factor in my daily triggers.

I attended as requested and she quickly identified that not only was I suitable for assistance but the Psychiatric Unit I was a patient in should have actually referred me Last AUGUST!. Add to that the indignity of being made unemployed and homeless. all in the same day after a glowing career in Law enforcement for 15 years, incarcerated in a "Psychiatric Secure Unit" for 'treatment'. Branded by one psychiatrist as the 'ward NUTTER' and too unsafe to walk the streets in fear of what harm I would do to either myself or someone else.

I was given the opportunity, with an outreach worker (August 22 nd 2013) to apply for 'Employment Support Allowance' A mere pittance compared to the £30.000 plus salary I had been earning only the day before. No other benefits were mentioned or suggested.

WHAT do I then discover today as well.... I should have been awarded P.I.P or 'Personal Independence Payment' (The new version of Disability living Allowance) as well. Basically because I was not aware of this benefit I should qualify for in AUGUST.. 2013. I have been struggling ever since.

Oh and another thing. Apparently when I was Discharged from the 'Secure Unit' I should have, within '24' hours been assigned a personal outreach worker, who would have found me supported accommodation with a Community Psychiatric Nurse to look out for my welfare.

Well, as if many have not guessed already, NONE of these were instigated last AUGUST and I have suffered mentally and physically as a result ever since.

Bottom line is I am fuming. I have worked all my adult life apart from when I was in a WHEELCHAIR for three months. I have served my county and protected my fellow man in the name of our Monarch. I have paid my taxes and insurances without fail all my life.

NO I am NOT happy with a benefit system that proffers the layabouts who can't be bothered to get off their lazy backsides and WORK! I have supported the work-shy ***holes in this country for too long.

WELL, guess what my Benefits Minister. I *WILL* be claiming what *MY* taxes have paid for over the last 25 years I have worked for this country because *I* damn well deserve them.

I apologise profusely if this thread upsets anyone with my curt language. I had to get this off my chest.

One very narked-off Laurie

 

[KP the nut]

No wonder you are fuming.

The annoying thing about the UK and I'd guess other countries is that whilst happy to take National Insurances and Tax the signposting to benefits is pitiful. Hopefully you will now get what you are entitled to.

 

[Caterpillar]

Sadly, we can't trust anyone, including the professionals, to respect our rights or give us what we're entitled to. The only way to have a chance in the system is to research and advocate hard for yourself, which can easily become as overwhelming and time-consuming as a full-time job! I've said more than once that if I was capable of making it through the process to claim assistance, I wouldn't need the damned assistance in the first place.

Still, all you can do is take what you know now and try to get what's owed you.

I feel your frustration. It shouldn't work like this.

 

[Fadeaway]

I am screaming on your behalf. It makes me so angry how people just let others fall through the cracks because they don't want to do what they are getting paid to do, help people!

Is there anyway they can post date it? I know in the U.S. you can get back payment.

 

[Deleted member 20280]

I am going to fight it all the way... that is the Laurie way .... Fighter never a Flighter !!!

What upsets me the most, is not that I could have had that extra money to spend on me. I have 6 Children and I was only able to afford £10 each for Christmas (approx $6.00 US Dollars) The lost finance = approx £5000 - $3000 US Dollars. My eldest Daughter graduates next month and with that money I would have been able to be a better father regardless of the last year since my collapse and breakdown.

I would have been able to pay for her Limousine and Dress and My estranged wife would not have had to borrow money off of her parents to pay for it. I have felt nothing but shame and guilt for nearly ten months now and not being able to send them extra money has made me feel increasingly inadequate as a father.

What has upset me the most is that if the benefits system and Health System had done what @Fadeaway so aptly put, Helped Me!

... for starters my relationship with my eldest three children would be a much better one and I would not have been beating myself up mentally for the last ten bloody months!

Whatever happens between my Ex Wife and I is between us and I for one will be as amicable as I possibly can.

Please, readers accept my sincerest apologies for being so forth-write with my language on the thread. Any offence is unintentional on my part it is just that this really has upset me that much.....

Laurie

 

[Laura 2]

@Santa_Laurie - No worries, rant on about the UK's benefits and health system...we need to shout out about it.

You've been through a vile set of experiences, it's added immensely to your problems and damaged your family badly.

Thank you for your service - it's a crying shame that those treating you cannot appreciate your contributions as an LEO and as a taxpayer. But they don't: I've met sooooo many equally accomplished and decent people who have had horribly similar experiences at the hands of our public services. I've heard not just stories of negligence but also far too many reports of pure evil abuse.

We had to take legal action to get benefits, it took nearly excruciating 4 years. So I've got no idea how the scroungers and scallies seem to get it so easily. Perhaps the DSS don't like honest, decent people. By a similar token I've just discovered that the NHS people I've been dealing with have simply not put me on the right treatment track - despite repeating my trauma history time and again in great detail. Now I'm about to become homeless. But hey, do they care...? No, but they're great at bloody 'signposting' you on to yet another agency or service!

I'm sorry if this is all too much for you to read whilst you're feeling so shit. I just know that, for me, over the years it's really helped to know that it's not just happening to me. It's fury-making and so sad, but it really helps that I don't have to take any of it personally now. The system is just appalling and makes our personal problems worse - the continual humiliations and indignities just compound something like PTSD. Multiplied by however many hundreds of thousands of us it's no wonder that the UK is degenerating so badly.

I hope you get every service and every penny you deserve!

 

[Deleted member 20280]

I'm sorry if this is all too much for you to read whilst you're feeling so shit.

@Laura 2 Primarily thank-you for being blunt and honest.

Secondly, please there is no need at all to apologise for anything. When I fought to walk again I actually worked for the then DSS for 9 months as a case-load manager rather than be unemployed.

I have no illusions as to how rubbish the system is in the UK having worked nearly every year since that day in one or another government type role. It has really galled me to think that, being an upfront tax-payer I am having to really battle the system for the smallest of mercies.

However, that said, my support worker is fantastic and it was after only a brief conversation last week that she was quick to identify my actual needs. She is going to support me through all the paperwork and has already arranged for a visit to the local supported accommodation facility in my town that she feels will be the safest and best spring-board for me to become independent again.

I have been married twice in my short life (43 years) and when my first marriage collapsed catastrophically (my first wife was an adulteress) I was then able to pick myself up with very little support.

This time I have to face, that due to my sectioning under the mental health act last year I actually need support in this somewhat trivial task.

I don't like and never have liked admitting defeat in life but I am actually relieved now,I have sat on this for several hours now and mulled it over . I am grateful that (K) is there she and genuinely wants to help me in any way she can within the regulations.

I known in my heart of hearts that I need that support in the short term but also being as strong willed as I am, I will soon enough be independent again and then Watch Out!.....

The strong Laurie WILL be back, stronger than before.
:)