Financial Implications for People with ME/Long Covid

Hello and welcome to Believe in ME with Rhona Barton. This episode is the penultimate of a short series for Organisations. The aim is to help educate leaders, managers and HR teams about ME & Long Covid. Please feel free to share this series with your organisation.

You can head to www.rhonabarton.co.uk/media for more information about me and my story.

Don’t forget that you can review, share & subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ok, let’s jump straight in!

So far, in this mini-series, we have looked at what ME & Long Covid is, how it impacts employees, how to support people with ME & Long Covid who are already in work, how to support people with ME & Long Covid who are off sick and some of the practical requirements for people with ME & Long Covid in work.

This week we are looking at the financial implications for people with ME/Long Covid.

I understand that many employers are concerned about financial and other costs of making reasonable adjustments, as well as the potential for setting precedents that other employees may wish to make use of.

In my experience I have found that the majority of effective reasonable adjustments came at very little or no cost and that Access to Work funding may be accessed to support purchases of any additional equipment, assistive technology and support. This can include support for making changes to premises where they specifically and only benefit the individual.

Employers are sometimes concerned that by agreeing to reasonable adjustments they may set precedents for other employees. This tends to be the case only when an employer is coming more from a starting point of “What is going to be reasonable for us to change?” rather than,” What is going to be effective for this particular employee?”

That’s it for today everybody. As I’ve mentioned, this episode is part of a short series for Organisations. The aim is to help educate leaders, managers and HR teams about ME & Long Covid. Please feel free to share this series with your organisation.

Last week I told you about a freebie for you which may help you. This is still available, and you can downloadable your FREE copy of the checklist to help you navigate your conversation with people with ME & Long Covid by heading to www.rhonabarton.co.uk/links

Whilst you’re there, you can head to my media page for more information about me and my story.

Thank you for listening. Don’t forget that you can review, share & subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.