Learning training and work support
Ken's story - Impact Workability
Ken tells us how he launched into self-employment with the
help of Impact Workability
I suffer from angina and arthritis, I'm deaf
in both ears and mono-sighted.
In October 2008, after an eight-week absence from work due to my
heart problems, I was laid off from my job as an Architectural
Technician working for a firm of architects in Havant. This left me
feeling very depressed and the stress of being unemployed made my
heart condition even worse and I became very hard to live with.
My Job Centre advisor put me in touch with the Steps to Work
partner, Impact Workability and my vocational advisor became Jo
James. At first Jo and I started looking for full time employment,
but it soon became clear that due to my health problems that this
was not the right path for us to follow. It was during a
fortnightly meeting with Jo that she advised me about permitted
working hours. After taking further advice from my job centre
advisor, I asked Jo to get the ball rolling.
Within a few days Jo had the paperwork ready and I started to
contact local companies about part-time working, but again
with little luck.
At our first meeting Jo suggested that I should start thinking
about working for myself in the architectural field. As luck would
have it, within two days, I met up with a local builder who agreed
to supply me with a planning project so that I could get my own
company off the ground. This was successful and I now have my very
own one-man company KGM Design.
I work a maximum of 15½ hours a week and earn a maximum of
£90.00 a week. With this and my incapacity benefit I now have a set
income. I am, and will be after my first year, a tax payer and also
pay my own national insurance. This has given me the feeling that I
am paying back some of my benefit and I am not one of those people
who will not work because of a disability.
I am working with my disability. I still have a heart problem,
arthritis and very poor hearing which, yes, gets worse at certain
times! But I have a reason to get up in the morning and make the
journey to work (our spare room) and I know that if I have a bad
health morning I can rest that day and not worry about losing my
job. I am a very good employer that way! It means that I am
not so depressed and - I hope - easier to live with.
I put this down to the assistance that Jo at the Steps to Work
partner Impact Workability gave, and the help from the Jobcentre.
Thank you all.