THT: How we can help you: Living with HIV: Benefits: Benefits and work

We offer a range of services throughout England, Scotland and Wales – many of them tailored to suit the varied needs of our diverse communities.

Living with HIV

If you are living with HIV, your life can seem more complex than before and you may face all kinds of day-to-day problems. We can help you navigate your way through them.

Need Help Now? call THT Direct 0845 12 21 200

Benefits and work

If you return to work after being away for any length of time due to illness, you might be able to get extended benefits payments for the first four weeks of work.You can get these if you get the following benefits:

Housing Benefit
Council Tax benefit
Housing costs
Child Maintenance bonus.

To claim these you must have been getting Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance for at least 26 weeks, and your new job must be expected to last for more than five weeks.

Work support programmes

You might be able to join a programme that provides practical advice and assistance to help overcome work-related obstacles. You may also be able to get grants towards extra employment costs.

Some of these schemes include:

Ensuring Positive Futures is a work support programme we operate in partnership with some other organisations. If it sounds interesting, then THT Direct can put you in touch with the scheme.

You can find out more about the New Deal programmes at your local Jobcentre, where you can also find out what other schemes and grants may be available in your area.

Re-claiming benefits

If you're returning to work after six months away because of your illness, it's important to protect your right to re-claim your incapacity-related benefit at the same rate you were on. This is vital in case you fall ill again within a year.

You can get this protection if:

you have been getting incapacity-related benefit for more than 196 days (approximately six months, although gaps of up to eight weeks are ignored)
you start work or training with one week of coming off benefit
you notify your Jobcentre Plus (Department of Works and Pensions) within one month of coming off benefit.

If you meet the above conditions you are classed as a ‘welfare to work beneficiary’ for a period of 104 weeks from the day after you came off benefits. You should be sent a letter confirming this and giving you the date when the 104-week protection comes to an end.

Disclaimer

The information contained within these pages is written for people resident in, or affected by, the laws of England and Wales only and is correct in December 2007. If you're resident in Scotland please contact THT Direct who'll put you in touch with a specialist in Scottish legislation.

This information does not constitute legal advice. If you have a legal problem you should call THT Direct to talk to an appropriately trained adviser before making a decision about what to do next. In the event that you need specialist assistance we will try to put you in touch with a specialist adviser in your area.

While every care has been taken in the compilation and construction of these pages Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) will not be held liable for any loss, damage or other inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within the pages of this website. THT has no control over the content of pages external to this site and cannot be held liable for their content.

Ensuring Positive Futures

THT delivers elements of the Ensuring Positive Futures programme which is partly funded by the European Social Fund under the Equal Community Initiative programme.