I have started a new job – my first paid work since my early 20s – and it has done wonders for my mental health. The food bank I’ve been volunteering at four days a week for the past few years offered me a part-time position and I was so happy to take it, even though it was daunting. I have been out of paid employment for so long that I’d lost a lot of confidence, but this job has made me feel a lot better about myself.
What hasn’t been great is dealing with the universal credit system. I have been on the benefit since it was introduced, and I tried to find out how much financial help I will be entitled to now that I’m in part-time work. I thought that should be quite easy, because the government supposedly wants people to get back into work, but I just hit brick walls.
