hi again-things are still not good with the company now threatening me with dismissal because of ill health.i have a meeting with my linemanager soon but am anxious because if they finish me as unfit to work where will i stand if i do find other employment.also would i be entitled to any sort of redundancy package as they are actively dissm issing me not making me redundant?

thanks sj and nystagmite-no i havent seen an dea yet as i am only just coming to terms with whats happening. i am a realist and realise that jobs are hard to come by but ive always been an optimist and hope some old connections might come up with something. at the moment its the day to day problems until occupational health give me a verdict on what they think i can do. i wish they would just make me redundant then at least i know where i stand and the money could tide me over tilll i sort out jsa/esa or whatever.

thank you hennessey-this is what ive tried to explain but when you LOOK healthy then people assume you are healthy!! i did an online esa test and scored nothing but that still didnt stop me feeling extremely tired yesterday and doing nothing for the whole day. i want to work as i have never been out of work or sick in over 42 years ive always done something even down to working on the "blackstuff" when between jobs. i cant return to any of my previous occupations-soldier-process operator-prison officer-driver as all thes are too physically demanding so it looks like call centre-shop worker etc, but thanks for your posts so far

thanks- but that will be if they finish me !! im stuck till then as i cant look for a new job and they seem to be dragging their feet with occupational health.until they deal with me i dont see any way forward but just feel that they will wait me out till i just walk out- i have only weeks left on ssp and then nothing!

yes-but i find the physical side exhausting ! i have accepted that i might have to change to a more sedentary role or even change jobs but i dont think these would be available within the company. thank you for your reply

Hi-this is my first post so please be kind to me I am a cleaning manager and in aug10 was tupe'd over to a new company. Obviously the period prior to and after tupe was very stressful with me working long hours and no days off. This took a toll on my health and in sept10 i had a stroke/tia which hospitalised me for a week. I signed on sick but was only entitled to ssp. My ssp was always late or not at all unless i contacted payroll. This along with the other stresses of illness led to me having another stroke in jan 11. My doctor has been great and with his help and revised medication I felt I was ready to restart work in mid march. We agreed with the company that because I was still experiencing some bad days where tiredness would overtake me I would try and do what hours i could but if necessary i could go home early. My intentions were to try and reduce my hours to suit my illness. This worked fine initially as whilst I was off they had put in a stand in manager who had employed extra staff to get the job done-even though this meant he was massively over budget !! However within a week of my return these staff were withdrawn which left me short staffed as they had already sacked two of my old team. My line manager arranged a meeting with me to discuss the overspend and told me that I had to return to budget ASAP. I agreed but explained to her that I still wasn’t fully fit enough to do the work of the missing people. She said the budget was written in stone and that I needed to not only work within it but in future look for ways to reduce it. She also explained that my role had changed whilst I was off and I was expected to do more of the physical clean as opposed to just managing the site. She also stated that the new budget was based on a manager doing fewer hours than me and on 2/3 of my pay rate-this would mean that another member of staff could be employed to ease the manager’s workload! Within a week I started to come under a lot of pressure from all angles- staff were giving me complaints/grievances from months ago which hadn’t been dealt with during my absence= the contractor we worked for wasn’t happy with their treatment since I was off- people hadn’t been paid correctly-if at all and when I was told that the budget targets were to be reached within weeks but that I needed to start cutting staff hours immediately to reduce the already overspent budget the stress and situation started to make me very ill again. I returned to the doctors who was very concerned over my health again and signed me of sick with a recommendation that I see occupation health. This referral has been made but now what do I face? I know that I am unlikely to be fit enough to carry out the role as it stands- I don’t think there will be any other job suitable within the company and when I asked just to made redundant they refused! Are they trying to force me out without paying? What would I expect to receive if they finish me under ill health? Am I entitled to benefits ? I am in severe financial difficulties after 6 months on just ssp with no other income except a fostering allowance for a 14 yaer old we look after . I have served both companies loyally and to the best of my abilities for 3 and a1/2 years and don’t feel I should just walk away with nothing! Any help or advise would be gratefully received=thanks