Can I get financial help?

Everyday living
1

I was diagnosed with RRMS back in April this year and am due to start round one of lemtrada in a couple of weeks. I am struggling with awful fatigue! I wake up before 6am every morning to get ready for work, it can take me up to 3 hours to travel to and from work and I work from 8-4.30 each day. I love the company I work for and I want to work as much as I can but this feels unrealistic and at most times incredibly hard! I am more forgetful, make silly mistakes and could fall asleep at my desk!

I am considering the possibility of reducing my hours slightly however worry about my financial situation if I did! I am a young woman who is aiming to get a mortgage in the near future and then start a family! I need financial support if I want to reduce my working hours but really worry that if I don’t do something about my working life, I may get progressively worse! Is there any support out there that could help me?

2

You can apply for PIP (personal independence payment) as it’s not taxable, income related etc. and it’s payable to help you cope with things you might need to support yourself if effected by an illness that requires help. We don’t get it automatically but there’s some more info here

Sonia x

3

you can get it touch with Access to Work who will help keep you in your job.

they may also provide taxis to and from work, which will be a huge help to you.

4

Consider getting a job nearer to where you live, or moving closer to the job? Six hours travelling every day is unsustainable.

I mean you are spending almost as much time travelling as doing the job! I’m assuming you meant 3 hrs there and 3 hrs back?

I’m assuming - maybe wrongly - with talk of a mortgage and family, theres a partner in the picture. You need to hve serious chats with him/her as to the future. What do they earn, whats their prospects? What if you have to give up work or can’t pay a mortgage? What can you afford on what you earn? just some of the questions you should jointly tackle before any big decisions are made.

5

I think it might be nigh on impossible to convince the DWP that you can (albeit with terrible fatigue and other symptoms), travel for hours each day and do a job once you get there. Unless of course you happen to be a full time wheelchair user and thus cannot walk 50 metres.

In any case, even maximum PIP for both Daily Living and Mobility is only worth about £145 per week, I should think that amount wouldn’t go far in terms of reducing working hours whilst saving for a mortgage.

Sorry to be such a doom monger.

Sue

6

find a rich husband = sorted!

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