Frank has spoken to his employer and he can no longer drive a bus as he cannot hold a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) license with an ICD. Frank is worried about his loss of income and is concerned about how he will manage to pay his bills.
Q. Considering what Frank’s going through, what would your advice be to Frank?
| Statement | True | False | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don’t do anything at all | – | ✔ | Although not part of your job, helping Frank can enable him to get advice from someone who can help. |
| Talk to Frank about benefits | ✔ | – | Benefits exist to help the sick and disabled, and lots of advice agencies can help |
| Contact Frank’s employer straight away | – | ✔ | It is essential that Frank gives his consent, as this may breach confidentiality. An employer may have a legitimate reason to dismiss someone if they cannot meet legal requirements. |
| Contact an advice agency on Frank’s behalf | ✔ | – | Provided Frank agrees, this will start the process to give Frank appropriate help. |
| Tell Frank that working again is out of the question. | – | ✔ | This creates an unrealistic expectation of what Frank may be able to achieve in the future. |
| Encourage Frank to speak to his wife about their situation. | ✔ | – | Family members can often provide critical support to assist with recovery and management of a condition. |
| Provide reassurance | ✔ | – | Frank has approached you for support. Although you can’t help directly, providing reassurance will help to reduce stress. |
Pulse point
The following resources may be useful to direct people to:
- Entitled To: A private organisation providing online benefit calculators
- Advice Guide: Independent advice from Citizens Advice on a range of issues
- Citizens Advice Scotland: The Scottish Citizens Advice service (including details of bureaux
- Department for Work & Pensions: The home of the Department for Work and Pensions online
- CHSS Welfare Benefits Advisors
Page last reviewed: 28 Jul 2020
