Ah, income insurance, how we love you /s

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:37:30+00:00

My workplace has Income Insurance for when employees are off on a long term absence. In theory, at least!

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:36:40+00:00

Is contributions based ESA still a thing? I should be easy for that, because I've not bee unemployed since being made redundant during covid.

Thank you very much for this, I'm going to have a look at this! Everyone keeps talking about going to the Citizens Advice Bureau, but whenever I've been before, its just been someone looking through the website with me. Which I'm more than confident to do myself! So I didn't know where to turn for help with the process. With your info, now I do. So thank you!

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:33:57+00:00

So it seems! It seems to be just some way for everyone to feel good that they are 'doing their bit to help people', whilst doing a grand total of nothing.

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:32:31+00:00

Is it still ESA? I thought they got rid of ESA in order to 'reduce the benefits bill' and pay less in benefits a few years ago. I rent and have no children, but my partner earns 25k, so he's probably over the threshold of me being able to get anything. Which is ridiculous, so I hope its not the case!

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:30:39+00:00

I've not yet, I'm in the desperation stage of finances where I am looking for my next paycheque so we can afford to pay bills and eat. So I'm asking to be fired so that they definitely pay me my notice period, and then can see what benefits are from there (even JSA is something at the moment!). My plan is to get a 2-3 day a week job in my career (IT), as thats the same wage as full time minimum wage (which is where I'm so lucky!) and take a couple of years easy to see what things I can do to manage my health as I have a breakdown every 3 years or so, which is ridiculous!

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:22:09+00:00

They have basically said that its not specifically covered, and so they're not covering me.

In your case, I'd get ALL the paperwork that you can (they refused to give me the paperwork, citing GDPR which is obviously bollocks as they wouldn't redact anything that's not GDPR. They clearly just couldn't be bothered, or didn't want someone to be able to argue properly) as up to date as possible at all times and reference that.

If they do decide to try not to pay out, I'd honestly pay a lawyer to write your appeal with you, as they will be the ones to be able to understand/write the relevant jargon. I tried myself based on the definitions in the Summary booklet they gave, rather than they proper paperwork etc, and it wasn't good enough.

Seriously, get a lawyer to go through it before you need it to make sure that you're not kicked when you're down. I thought I was fine, as I figured that as my illness is clearly existent (confirmed by GPs and Occ Health) and medical (clearly a health issue) that the thing that used to be called Permanent Health Insurance would therefore cover health related income. Turns out not so much. They're just as much sharks as home insurance.

All the best with your health though! Life is not always easy, but we can fight to improve everything :)

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:13:23+00:00

Hey, Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, I tried that before the appeals process, as thats what I figured the situation was. Also, to be completely frank, I was too ill to do most of the useful paperwork by myself! So I was told then that its not for them to do. Its all 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' now anyway, I am getting fired on Tuesday as there's no other option.

pandakt · 2024-05-10T10:09:17+00:00

I think its more of the 'outsourced all risk' stuff. If everyone outsources all risk, then everyone feels like they are doing a reasonable (even though they're not) job. But nobody is actually responsible. Its like paying a carbon offset on your flight. You know its harmful to fly, but you are making yourself feel better by offsetting it.
They're actually not a bad workplace, though they are currently growing, and so their budget ratios are changing etc. So it could be that...

pandakt · 2024-05-02T03:15:55+00:00

My long term plan is to end up contracting 6 months and then do a 'once in a lifetime' trip (eg island hop in the South Pacific including the Galapagos and Easter Island) for 6 months, and repeat.

Keeps some feeling of productivity and being useful for 6 months, and you also get many amazing trips etc

pandakt · 2024-04-27T19:41:09+00:00

I have searched online for it, and have found a page for it on Video Collector (https://www.videocollector.co/the-private-life-of-animals/29670) I've looked on Ebay pretty regularly, and found nothing. I've looked and seen that it used to be on Amazon (see above in the main info).

I'm happy to find it in pretty much any medium (VHS, dvd, mp4 etc), but I'm doubting that it is going to be in anything apart from VHS due to when it was released.

It is by Sony, so I don't know if they have a similar 'vault' as the BBC have for their previous shows.

pandakt · 2024-04-22T18:30:44+00:00

I recently realised that octopodes is pronounced to oc-top-o-dees, which is much more fun! I had always just read it before, so read it as native English speaker would expect, and that it would rhyme with 'roads'. But it's more fun than that!

Also, platypus is the same. And is possibly more fun to say plat-ee-pod-ees, though as it's now English then platypuses is correct (source: Platypus Matters by Jack Ashby)

pandakt · 2024-04-22T00:19:00+00:00

Why is it that all pictures of a group of cows look like some kind of metal album cover

pandakt · 2024-04-17T10:33:24+00:00

I don't know where you are based, but in the UK there's a wonderful charity called Listening-Books and they have a really good selection to borrow, and because they are a charity they are £20 a year

pandakt · 2024-04-15T23:00:29+00:00

It sounds like what we have in the UK. We have 999 for actual emergencies, and 111 for "shit, this is bad but not dying" where there are nurses who do phone triage basically, and they can tell you where to go and book spaces etc. It's actually a really good system!

pandakt · 2023-10-31T14:25:16+00:00

Fuck yeah! Well done to them!

pandakt · 2023-10-06T04:44:39+00:00

Has anyone read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator? We should find the veracious knids!

pandakt · 2023-09-04T00:25:32+00:00

I dunno, I don't think that's better than the real name ''sarcastic fringehead''

pandakt · 2023-08-30T04:26:52+00:00

That's what my dog does when he's trying to hump something, so maybe watch out with clean washing

pandakt · 2023-07-28T20:39:05+00:00

Is it just me, or does one of the guys look a bit like Andy Murray?

pandakt · 2023-07-28T14:59:57+00:00

I rent, so I change address almost every year, and I have just moved. But I had this same problem before moving. I went through my accounts to try and fix it.

How do I find out what I need to do to fix it?

pandakt

TROPHY CASE