A disabled man has described how he was forced to give up his part-time employment because it put him in a more challenging position than when he was on full financial assistance.

Phillip Ingham, 44, was born with cerebral palsy (CP). He said: “My right side is not fully developed so my movements are not orthodox. I have coordination issues and I fatigue more quickly than able-bodied people.”

However, in better economic times he was able to hold down a job.

Mr Ingham has a background in the hospitality industry and in customer service. More recently he has been a victim of the economic downturn, but had worked as a part-time receptionist for a health spa, the job he was forced to give up.

Most recently he volunteered at Sandy 360, but the facility has now closed. “I haven’t been able to find employment since,” he said.

“I’m on financial assistance right now.” It covers rent, electricity, his telephone bill and he gets a food card every month.

“It is really good,” he said. “But I am looking for a nine-to-five job, or a nine-to-seven job. Basically I’m looking at everything — I don’t give up hope.”

To qualify for financial assistance he must actively seek employment 12 times a week. “I’m out there trying for everything,” he said. “Even without a disability nobody is hiring full time.”

Mr Ingham said he had been forced to give up part-time employment because it did not cover all his expenses, which included electricity, groceries and rent.

“It was too complicated in terms of declaring my cheques. I would have to declare my pay cheque to the Financial Assistance department — while doing this, I needed that cheque to live on.”

Financial Assistance takes the amount earned off the total amount of benefits, but before discovering what part of his budget would be allocated the remaining money — rent, groceries, or his electricity bill — he would purchase groceries, for example, only to find the allocation that had been adjusted was, for example, for the rent portion of his benefits.

It meant there was not enough money left from his pay cheque to pay that rent, because he had spent it on groceries.

In addition, the money left over from his grocery allocation — there because he had bought them with his earned money — would then go back to the Financial Assistance Department.

Adding to Mr Ingham’s problems, his disability means he is reliant on friends to drive him home when he buys groceries, as he lives on a hill which is off the main public transport routes.

“I need a full-time job and a housing situation that will allow me to become more independent without relying on friends for lifts,” he said.

Mr Ingham said: “CP is not a disease; it is chronic condition that happens at birth.”

Calling himself a spiritual person, he said he was a member of St Joseph’s Protestant Church. “Despite all the hardships of living with CP, you really appreciate when things go well,” he said.

Mr Ingham said he was grateful to the case workers at the Financial Assistance Department. “I’d like to give them a thank you — everyone has been wonderful.”

The Department of Financial Assistance declined to be interviewed for this article, but pointed to a story in The Royal Gazette a year ago.

Quoting Dianna Taylor, director of the Financial Assistance Department, the story reads: “We count bodies and income that comes in. If two adults and two children are there and nobody’s working, then they are assessed on the fact that there’s four people in the household and nobody’s working. They would be assessed for all basic staples of living, rent, food, electricity, etc.

“The point is we want to provide help and the more responsibly we spend assistance dollars, the more help we can provide to those who need it.”

She also said in the story that the department’s mandate is twofold, and was quoted as saying: “The first priority is to provide for people who cannot financially provide for themselves.”

She added: “But it’s also to scrutinise the Government purse and we take that very seriously.”