Hello all, first off – apologies for the bleak journal, especially my first, I don’t write this lightly…

To cut a long and painful story short, my sister is in a really rough spot both in terms of finance and mental health, and I feel compelled – despite how uncomfortable I feel doing so – to reach out on her behalf and ask for help.

Having worked for a 999 (emergency services) call centre, she left the position as the extremely stressful position combined with her anxiety and depression – despite being medicated – was doing a number on her mental health and state of mind. Finding employment next working in a warehouse, there was a cock-up on the company’s part regarding a test involved in the selection process and, evidently not liking the fact that my sister challenged them attempting to claim she had not passed (she had) they found an excuse to drop her after the end of probation.

What followed was a period of months where she was unemployed and not seeking any government assistance, relying on support/borrowing money from my parents, as well as me when she felt too ashamed to ask them for more when unexpected costs came up. Due to a long dry spell while actively job-seeking, this debt to family had racked up over those months to approximately £12,000 and my parents were rapidly approaching the point where they could no longer support her (living away from home) any longer despite wanting to.

Recently, things had started to look up – She had found she was eligible, and applied for, support from the government under the Universal Credit scheme, as well as finding new employment with Timpsons, a keycutting chain here. Between the new salary and support, it looked like she would have just about enough monthly to sustain herself and slowly pay back the family.

However, this morning, there has been much frustration anger, cursing and tears after discovering that – due to a cock-up on the part of her previous employer – the delayed back-payment of incorrect wages had come through *after* the threshold for the next earnings month, and the UC calculator simply interprets this as “earnings” and thus rendered her ineligible for the support she had applied for, despite not being employed or earning any money during this period.

Thus, my sister has found herself up shit creek without a paddle, and an emotional wreck as a result… sharing her pain but feeling powerless, I have felt compelled, despite my anxieties about it, to ask for help on her behalf. Please please PLEASE… DO NOT endanger your own stability in order to do so, you are not obligated to help and I value your own wellbeing above all else, but if you wish to and you can spare it, I have modified my ko-fi account to accept donations, and these will be passed ***in full*** to my sister

https://ko-fi.com/somefurryidk63689

Thankyou, so much, even just for reading this, I hate asking but deeply appreciate even the time spent reading and considering ;u;