stupid dwp employees.

[The GodMother]

Wrang the Dwp regarding my sure start maternity grant had a simply question.

 

My partner claims for me who signs the form him or me?

 

The agent said erm i dont know i will ask my supervisor.

 

On hold for 5 minutes and the supervisor comes back to me saying the claimiant has to sign the form

 

so as i am the claimant for the grant due to the one being pregnant does that mean me.

 

He says no it means my partner.

 

So got the form signed and sent of. 4 weeks later they send the form back saying can i please sign it.

 

So i did but rang up to check the info out again was given the same as before

 

then i asked why had the form been sent back to me then saying i need to sign it.

 

Was told the person who sent the form back had told me wrong. What a suprise it turns out it is everybody but the person who gave me the info that it is my partner to sign the forms fault.

 

I sent the form back with a letter saying that i had rang up and asked who would need to sign it and i was told my partner if this is wrong information can they please make sure the telephone staff are aware of this and make sure the info given out by them is correct.

 

Have had a lovely phone call telling me that there staff do not give out the wrong info i had mis interapreted it wrong.

 

well they did not like it when i played the recording back to them as it provided i was right.

 

They still maintain i misinterapted the info tho.

[tiglet]

Breathe honey (you know you'll hate being told that in a few weeks time).

[The GodMother]

i am breathing.

 

its just annoying as u will know went u are told one thing the told u are wrong but it is not the company who told u fault

[tiglet]

Absolutely - I couldn't agree with you more.

 

BUT ... it's getting sorted and the last thing you need is to get your blood-pressure up.

 

Just accept they are cretins with the IQ of toast and move on XXXXXXXX

[The GodMother]

i have done but i was frustrated at the time.

 

Bp is normal just done a bit of strenous exercise tho.

 

climbing the stair to the bathroom.

[tiglet]

Make sure your waters don't go - I'm too ****ed to get the hot water and towels just now

[The GodMother]

i know i know.

 

I told ODC off early for making me laugh

[JenniBee8]

We're not all stupid

[The GodMother]

I hate to dissagree but from years of experiance of the beneifts system then i will dissagree due to the experiance work and me personally have had.

[JenniBee8]

But you can't generalise and say every single member of staff in DWP are stupid? I find that very insulting as I personally believe I carry out my job well.

[The GodMother]

well the other 6 offices that i deal with on a daily basis dont they cant get a single piece of information correct even on the basic claim forms.

 

If you have been having the same amount of problems for the same amount of years that we have had at work and that we have personally experianced due to partners ill health and my ill health then u would understand why i know and i can say the offices i deal with are stupid.

 

The difference may be that the staff are trained better in Scotland.

[GuidoT]

Let us stick to the topic of discussion without the need to insult anyone or any group of individuals please.

 

JenniBee8 I am sure you do your job well and that the comments were not aimed at you personally.

[The GodMother]

I was not aiming any comments at her directly but i was just pointing out that because one officer thinks she does her job properly it does not mean the officers i deal with threw work do.

 

The hell that the DWP have caused in this area since they started shutting offices and running 6 different counties out of one understaffed office that is clearly not able to cope with the work and are telling the clients/appointees they are not coping with the work then ppl would agree with me if they saw or experaince it.

 

Just so ppl no but in this area as of 4 pm today this is how far they are behind.

 

Emergancy crisis loans 2 weeks wait these are ment to be dealt with within 24 hours of the office recieving in.

 

CCG appeals letters/notices 20 weeks these are ment to be done in 4 weeks.

 

BL appeals letters/notices 20 weeks these are ment to be done within 4 weeks.

 

CCG applications 26 weeks these are meant to be done within 8 weeks

 

BL applications 26 weeks these are ment to be done with 8 weeks

 

crisis loans 3 weeks these are ment to be done on the day of recipt.

 

Income supprt claims up to 30 weeks for claim to be completed and put fully on the system baisic info in system till then these are suspose to be done within 2 weeks but first payment should be with u in 2 weeks of application

JSA. application fully on system up to 30 weeks but first signing and payment with 2 weeks of the application interview. Ment to fully done within 2 weeks.

[therafalution]

If you really want someone to blame, look at the senior managers who are frighteningly incompetent. There is an attitude amongst them that is seeing a lot of money spent on training people and then trying the best to sack them. Having been a civil servant in various departments for the best part of 10 years, front line staff do their jobs in spite of management and in spite of the public.

So from me its grrrr stupid public....

[The GodMother]

yes but if you had read my post you will notice that i was put on hold whilest the person went and consulted his manager/supervisor so it was the senior manager of the department that gave me the info when HE took over the call.

[therafalution]

The reason most people are put on hold whilst the advisor trots off for a consultation is that any on-screen guidance is often out-of-date or just wrong. By senior management i mean the grades that run these places not team leaders. I would always defend the rank and file civil servants, as with any big organisation there will always be those who are incompetent, what i won't defend is managers who promise to do call backs to customers and then don't, usually because they know they will cop an earful.

If the cul of civil service jobs continues i guarantee the situation will get much worse.

[The GodMother]

I dont disagree with you that the civil servants take a lot of earbashings as i am guilty of giving a few out because of someones within the departments mistakes. I do honestly feel soory for them if they can prove it was not there mistake but half the time they blame each other and the papertrail that ends up on my desk when i ask for a full transcript of telephone conveso and screen notes etc proves who and were them mistake happened.

 

Also my step grandad works as a civil servant and the stories that he comes out with ppl who dont work with them or as one you would not believe.

 

i have found one thing that other than the info they give out regarding forms etc that is wrong is when they say they have not recieved the form/letter/documents yet 9/10 they are lying and there boss is telling them to hury up nd get threw calls due to the fact that they have to many waiting. All thought if u want one that is going to always trip them uo say well then i know u are lying as you signed for it on this date and i am only just wondering when it will be reaching the persons desk and they will be dealing with it.

 

They never know how to answer that one.

[Invasive_Frost]

The reason why they don't know how to answer that one is because they don't know where the letter has gone. Post in the DWP is often sorted in another office and even if you send it directly to the office you deal with, by recorded delivery it is often taken to ANOTHER office to be sorted and then taken back to the office it is going to.

 

I worked for the DWP for nearly five years and on the section that I worked on there were around 40 people (at it's peak this has since been reduced by half) being carried by four or five people who actually knew what they were doing and worked hard to try and get money out to people in need. Yes the benefits system is VERY complicated, but you shouldn't be doing the job if you are incapable of understanding the regulations you are applying.

[The GodMother]

I am not saying they dont understand the regulations at all.

 

All i am saying is that were ever the info comes from as in manager/supervisor / senior manager they need to make sure they are giving the clients the correct info as they can start causing problems if not.

[Invasive_Frost]

Oh I agree with you there, the communication from the top to the bottom is awful and always has been. However the correct information is there for them and with a little effort they could go and find it. Sorry shouldn't add any further comments since it'll only get me angry (I still feel that way nearly two years after leaving)

[JenniBee8]

OK I accept that but I am in Scotland!

[therafalution]

I really believe that a large part of the problem in the civil service lies with highest senior management. They pay lip service to staff through the occasional on site visit, but in reality they don't give a stuff about front line staff. HMRC are axing over 12500 staff, if you think things are bad wait until these cuts really kick in. Yet, ministers and their lackeys can't or don't want to see the damage. Frontline customs staff are disappearing, less people will lead the fight against drugs coming into the country, Their skills will be lost, the only area of hmrc recruiting are the call centres and condition in there are pretty dire. They deny it but managements prime interest is the number of calls answered and not quality. I know of people who will cut callers off in order to keep call times down.

[The GodMother]

Invasive Frost.

 

If it makes u angry 2 years after leaving then how do u think it makes me and my collegues feel on a daily basis.

 

One person giving us one answer then another person tells us they are wrong and giving us a different answer.

[The GodMother]

OK I accept that but I am in Scotland!

 

Well you are obviously better trained than the ppl down here. Maybe u could move down here and train the staff properly.

[Invasive_Frost]

I know how you feel GodMother, when I worked at the DWP the local advisory organisations knew which officers would be helpful and which wouldn't and importantly were able to call them directly and talk to them, something which has now been taken away (at least in my local office) since they now employ a "telephone team" who are not even trained in how to administer the benefit, only how to look up common questions about when payments are due etc.

 

therafalution: I was always under the impression that senior managers were not telling ministers the whole truth, manipulating statistics to try and show that nothing was wrong, MPs never find out how bad things are because when they write to a local office things suddenly start working very quickly!