Author Archives: wendy
New Health and Work Service to get long-term sick back to work
People off sick for more than four weeks are to be offered advice to get them back to work more quickly under a scheme being set up by the government.
The Health and Work Service, which will cover England, Wales and Scotland, will offer non-compulsory medical assessments, starting in April.
It will be run by the private sector and paid for by scrapping compensation to employers for statutory sick pay.
Ministers say employers will save money overall by having fewer staff off sick.
They said it may save companies up to £70m a year in reduced sickness pay and related costs.
No law change
Woman denied sickness benefit despite life-threatening condition
Last updated at 14:02, Friday, 07 February 2014
A Workington woman with a life-threatening heart condition is being denied sickness benefits because of Government assessment changes.
The case of Jeanette Johnston, 29, has been taken up by Workington MP Sir Tony Cunningham.
He has pledged to write to the Government to get her benefits reinstated.
Miss Johnston will ultimately need a heart and lung transplant and has already had a kidney removed.
Despite her health problems, she has received no disability benefits since August of last year.
Carers are victims of calculated and shameless exploitation
That is the right response to the report by Carers Scotland and Carers UK about the many ways in which carers are being treated unfairly at present (“Investigation reveals plight of carers forced into debt”, The Herald, February 4). And Colette Douglas Home was right last October when she called on society to care for carers. And no doubt the same call will be made next June, and next October, and so on. So why does society not respond?
Dr McNicol has written about the difficulties being experienced by families looking after the frail elderly and that is a very serious matter. But the same problems are faced by all carers who look after family members affected by learning disabilities, physical disabilities, disorders such as autism, mental illness, and long-term physical illness, as well as those children who care for a parent, and grandparents who look after children whose own parents cannot look after them.
