Sara's Story.

Barely able to breathe, Sara* was rushed to A&E. Referred to a chest specialist, the asthma she had all her life had developed into emphysema and sleep apnoea.

Four nebulisers and IV steroids later, she was sent home and told to stay on sick leave. A diagnosis that turned her world upside down, both in her personal life and at work.

After working for 36 years as a mental health officer, Sara stresses how she did all the right things – ‘I’d paid as much as I could for my pension, I only had two years left to go!’ But that year she was terribly unwell, fighting three months at work with what she thought was a chest infection – that’s when she ended up in A&E.

Her work operated on a ‘three points and you’re out’ system, something which made her terrified of taking sick leave. Initially, Sara asked to take a week of annual leave to iron things out – although her manager approved this, she was later told that she was not mentally fit to be working and would have to take sick leave instead. She was immediately sent home.

Once feeling a bit better, Sara kept trying to come back to work. Each time her manager refused, on grounds on mental ill-health. Eventually, after 9 months, Sara was dismissed. She recalls:

Bereft of her livelihood, Sara said that without her granddaughter she would have been lost. Having to put a brave face on for her gave her a purpose. Hanging on in there, Sara turned to PIP for help.

She describes the experience of the PIP assessment as ‘horrendous.’ Sara felt like it wasn’t a thorough assessment of her illness, as the assessor was ‘in and out within a matter of minutes.’

She says, ‘I was coughing, I vomited, I had to go outside and was physically sick twice, but there was ‘nothing wrong with me’’. I didn’t qualify for mental health because I wasn’t seeing anybody, yet I’d been halfway through therapy when I lost my job.’

Losing her job had meant losing her income as well as losing access to her therapy. Sara felt like the assessor didn’t take the time to understand her situation, something which she believes is hard rooted in judgement of people claiming benefits.

By the time she met P3, Sara couldn’t cover her food or bills. Without access to her pension, she has no choice but to wait until she turns 65. Her only means of support is through charity.

Her support worker lodged a written appeal, which got the PIP decision overturned straight away. Describing the relief she felt when she received the backdated payment – ‘I could survive for the next three months.’ She also received a lump sum following her ESA medical assessment, which she has currently been living off.

Sara says where she would have given up on her own, her support worker was determined to fight for her benefits. Now, despite still having to ‘forage for food’ as she calls it, ‘finding reduced items is a full-time job,’ her wellbeing has improved since regularly attending sessions with her support worker.

The thing she laments the most is being able to work five days a week. Laughing she adds, ‘I can’t believe I was a woman who bought ready prepared veg, ready prepared chicken – convenience, after a long day at work I was knackered. I never looked at how much things cost because I could always pay for it.’

Not all P3 stories have an ending, Sara is still surviving the system – she says for the moment she doesn’t have enough energy to fight, she’s already had enough battles. What she does have, though, is someone in her corner – a place she can turn to when times get tough.