General Chat

I had a letter from the DWP today.

It seems they can't pay me anything because I don't have any Class 1 contributions for the year 2012-2013.

Well, no, I didn't work, I was a 24 hour carer.

That doesn't count toward contribution based benefits.

Suppose I could have taken him to work with me, God help us!

Anyway, I finally spoke to somebody who suggested I should have made the original claim and not OH. Due to some technicality that we didn't know about but the people in the jobby must have, it is possible we would have had our claim accepted with no quibble that way.

Maybe somebody might have mentioned itt when we first claimed and then the DWP would not have had to keep us waiting fr five weeks until we rung them to ask why we had no money to actually get to look at our claim and tell us they were not going to give us any.

I think they have been quite cruel to us.

They are absolutely useless Sharron, and will never tell you anything helpful, well rarely anyway. Now and again you will get someone sympathetic who will put you on the right track but they are few and far between. It's as if they get commission for saving the government money in unfair ways.

Best of luck, hope things work out right for you soon


Lizxx

If neither in a couple are entitled to contributed based benefits then u can claim for income based JSA. Assets must be under £16k. Receipt of JSA makes you elig. for HB. People over 62 do not have to sign on. Also if one of a couple is over 62 and the other does not work (any age) then they can get a weekly payment non contributed of abt £140 + HB. Quite how a couple are expected to live on under £200 weekly I have no idea. There is also income support allowance but poss. you need to be ill/disabled for that. Good luck.

To be able to claim any assistance from the DWP, you must first have the ability to understand the thought processes of those tasked with implementing the policies of the DWP - to be able to that you will need to have extrasensory means of communication because dealing with the DWP is a mystical minefield :-(

one of my relies is a top bod with dwp ... thought processes appear normal. Mind you I always thought working so hard for a lot of stress aggro and mediocre pay a bit crazy. By and large people will get better results with DWP by working with a recognised charity eg Age Concern rather than ploughing their own furrow. Reports that morale in the DWP is low are untrue, it is non existent.

Sharron, I know you like to be independent but sometimes it is good to ask for help. Have you asked advice from the Citizens Advice bureau?

Thank you for that Rollo!! <3 I worked for the old DSS for many years. The coffee breaks talked about with such sarcasm on here never existed where I worked, even 40 years ago. We drank our coffee while working and we often worked through our lunch breaks too. In those days we never seemed to have enough staff or resources and morale was often low. No-one wanted our low pay and stressful jobs and when I was interviewed they wanted me to start the next day and I had a choice of 4 offices!.

Yes OFITG, but the staff only operate government legislation. They can't change it or the rules and people forget that when they don't get what they want.

If I had to claim anything or help someone, the first thing I would do is read all about it on government websites and make a few notes. Just don't believe what every Tom, Dick or Harry tells you......they aren't experts. Check out what anyone tells you first.

How marvelous to be able to afford to buy coffee.

All I see at the Jobcentre Plus is people hanging about and that is no exagerration.

There are two security type men and it does not surprise me that it has been felt necessary to employ them with the frustration that must be being felt by others as well as myself. They lean on walls and wander about a bit.

Clerical staff do little more than wander about or chat.

There is always somebody to greet you at the door and there is usually somebody carrying a cup of coffee back to a desk more , I think, for recreation than for refreshment.

Sharron.
Normally I find I am in agreement with things you say, but in this case I´m not.
You judge what goes on by what you percieve to be happening.
I worked for over 40 years in either central or local goverment & I can assure you that the clerical staff work extremely hard for very mediocre pay.
The "higher ups" do their best to avoid conflict with the public. It´s always the "underlings" who have to deal with irate claimants.
As for working hours, we mostly worked from 8.30 to 5.30 with a 30 minute break for lunch which usually consisted of a sandwich eaten at the desk.
We were not given teabreaks, which is why you see people making tea/coffee at all odd times.They don´t take a break to drink it & when you see them "chatting. how do you know they are not discussing how to deal with something work related?
The need for security guards has become increasingly necessary over the years. I have personally witnessed assaults on staff & have myself been threatened with a knife.
Having said all that, we always said that 90% of the trouble came from 10% of the clients.
The other 90% were perfectly amiable & deserved all the help they can get.
As has already been said, the staff don´t make the rules, they just operate them.

I do have to agree with both annx and Wisechild. I worked most of my working life for either civil service or local government. I have never seen the stereotyped workers that are portrayed on here or elsewhere. It is too easy to blame the staff whi you see rather than thise who make the rules. I also had too short oeriods working for private companies and there the staff would fit the public service stereotypes.

Over the years I have visited Job Centres on occasion and, on my previous visits, I have seen staff working diligently at their desk and I have seen jobs on display which they were involved in filling.

I am in no way exaggerating what I see now. The building looks very much like an empty shop with a very large, empty space where once there were job display boards.

The only member of staff I have any issue with there is a very patronizing woman who smugly relates how she changed careers, well whoopy do for her, so,of course, it must be possible for everybody else to obtain one of the myriad jobs out there. Smug cow!

The others are disillusioned and appear to be under- occupied. All they do now is process claims and support the illusions of the powers that be.

Just like the rest of us, they would be doing it if it was there to do.

All offices are different of course, so Sharron might well be correct about the one she goes to, and Ann and Wisechild correct about when they worked,

from personal experience , about 3 years ago, 'most' of the staff were helpful, some were out and out bullies ( not to me but I eavesdrop lol) , and some were trying very hard to keep up with changes to the system beyond their control.

Theoretically the fact that your details are all on computer should make it easier for the various agencies ( council tax, benefits etc) to get things done more quickly...practically it seems not to work that well.

A neighbour , who had to leave work due to illness was left without any money for the family for 3 weeks, it was a case of waiting for one dept to get in touch with another dept.

Sharron- when you visit the visited Job Centre you are not creating the right impression, try having a roll-up hanging from your lip, a can of beer in one hand and a bookies betting slip in the other, that might work, as that over-worked and under-paid IDS in charge of the DWP thinks all claimants are smokers, drinkers, and gamblers :-D