After a lifetime in sales, Paul, 53 from
Walsall found himself claiming incapacity benefit after suffering
from a period of stress and depression. Now he was managing
his illness and being a proud man he was determined to work again,
but he worried as to whether he could cope with his health and a
return to work.
Paul was referred by his Jobcentre Plus
Adviser to join the Pathways to Work programme to boost his
confidence, and ultimately his finances. The programme
is designed to give additional support to people who suffer from a
health condition or disability who want to
work.
Being a well educated and articulated man,
Paul was quite skeptical about the programme and what it could
offer him, but with reassurances from his adviser Pam, he soon
became comfortable enough to take advantage of the job-broking
service and accepted the offer of an ‘In work better off’
calculation.
Not before long, Paul secured an interview for
a job in sales with npower, but the position included a week
of training which would involve extensive traveling. Paul was
concerned as he knew he would not be able to afford the petrol
expense, but didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity.
Seetec reassured him that they could help him financially with his
costs and that he didn’t have to worry.
Although he was very anxious he did extremely
well at the interview and was immediately offered a full time
position as a Sales Executive. On securing work, Paul was
made aware of the Return to Work benefits available and his adviser
Pam assisted Paul in applying for them, which relieved him of some
of the stress.
He started full time employment on
16th March 2009 and is thoroughly enjoying the benefits
of being able to work again.
Paul was delighted with the amount of help and
support which was available and insisted on sharing his experiences
at Seetec with any existing or future customers, saying:
“Many thanks from the bottom of my heart
for all your help and kind support these past few months.
Initially, I was very skeptical about being referred to you but
upon my first visit I realised that you all genuinely cared
about my wellbeing and search for meaningful employment. My
determination together with your knowledge and encouragement has
helped me to achieve this with the recent offer of a position with
one of the UK's brand leading companies (yes, even in these
difficult times!)”.
“My advice to fellow Seetec clients would be
to...Listen, Learn & Enjoy! Be confident that you have a
team of committed people totally focused upon your success!”
Pathways to Work provides extra help for people on incapacity
benefits or other health related benefits to find work. It
includes support from highly skilled personal advisers including
additional work focused interviews, groundbreaking healthcare
rehabilitation support, a Return to Work Credit of £40 a week, and
in-work support.
Pathways to Work is part of the Government’s wider welfare
reform agenda, which aims to help 1m people move off disability and
health related Benefits and to help address child poverty.
If you would like to find out more about Pathways
to Work in the Black Country, please click here.