NickInTheNorth
06-Dec-07, 16:15
I know that there are many on here that believe that the benefits system is designed simply to pour money into the pockets of wastrels and ne'er do wells. But lets leave those prejudices to one side just for now.
For various reasons I have recently had to claim income support. Now bear in mind that this is for the very worst off in society. It is for if you have no money and no other benefit that is applicable to you.
So how does it work.
You phone the new claims call centre (I got through to one in Lincoln as it happens) that take all your details then send you a statement for you to sign and send back. Nice and easy. Well no not always. For some reason mine could not be done that way. Had to do a "clerical claim" basically fill in a form by hand. Fair enough. Oh but when I rang there was a postal strike. So I had to go to the joke centre in Wick - their instructions not my choice. Went with everything I was told to take. Collected the forms, and after much argument was allowed to sit in the joke centre to fill them in. Then when I tried to hand them in was told that I needed another means of ID, so I had to take the forms away and send them all back to them together with the additional ID. Fair enough.
Oh, but don't forget there's a postal strike, so don't until that is over. Oh and bye the way you post stuff for Wick jobcentre to Inverness so that they can open it and send it to us by courier. Really? Yes, we don't have the resources to open the post. Well OK then. And phone to tell us when you have posted it to make sure we get it OK. Will do.
Off I go, end of strike post off the form to Inverness - for Wick! Phone call made to say it's on the way. Thank you, any more queries phone Clydebank. Clydebank? Yes they process all the claims. You post it to Inverness, they courier it to Wick, we enter it onto the computer to say it has arrived, then we courier it to Clydebank to process it.
OK, so I post the envelope to Inverness to get sent to Wick by courier so they can say they have received it on their computer then they send it by courier to Clydebank for processing? (I kid you not!)
So after a week of hearing nothing at all I phone Clydebank. Oh no, it will take at least 2 weeks to process the forms.
A week later - oh no, at least 18 working days, it won't be done before the end of November.
30th November - hello Clydebank - how's my claim going? What claim, you haven't got an outstanding claim. What. Eventually something on the system says I did phone and make the claim. Oh the forms must be lost. Can you go to Wick and collect duplicates?
So here I am after 9 weeks still waiting for a decision regarding my claim for income support, having meanwhile lived on fresh air, and the goodwill of friends still waiting for money to which I am entitled.
Meanwhile I hear today that the jobcentre staff have walked out after only being offered a 3% pay rise.
Can you imagine just how much sympathy I have for those poor civil servants :roll:
For various reasons I have recently had to claim income support. Now bear in mind that this is for the very worst off in society. It is for if you have no money and no other benefit that is applicable to you.
So how does it work.
You phone the new claims call centre (I got through to one in Lincoln as it happens) that take all your details then send you a statement for you to sign and send back. Nice and easy. Well no not always. For some reason mine could not be done that way. Had to do a "clerical claim" basically fill in a form by hand. Fair enough. Oh but when I rang there was a postal strike. So I had to go to the joke centre in Wick - their instructions not my choice. Went with everything I was told to take. Collected the forms, and after much argument was allowed to sit in the joke centre to fill them in. Then when I tried to hand them in was told that I needed another means of ID, so I had to take the forms away and send them all back to them together with the additional ID. Fair enough.
Oh, but don't forget there's a postal strike, so don't until that is over. Oh and bye the way you post stuff for Wick jobcentre to Inverness so that they can open it and send it to us by courier. Really? Yes, we don't have the resources to open the post. Well OK then. And phone to tell us when you have posted it to make sure we get it OK. Will do.
Off I go, end of strike post off the form to Inverness - for Wick! Phone call made to say it's on the way. Thank you, any more queries phone Clydebank. Clydebank? Yes they process all the claims. You post it to Inverness, they courier it to Wick, we enter it onto the computer to say it has arrived, then we courier it to Clydebank to process it.
OK, so I post the envelope to Inverness to get sent to Wick by courier so they can say they have received it on their computer then they send it by courier to Clydebank for processing? (I kid you not!)
So after a week of hearing nothing at all I phone Clydebank. Oh no, it will take at least 2 weeks to process the forms.
A week later - oh no, at least 18 working days, it won't be done before the end of November.
30th November - hello Clydebank - how's my claim going? What claim, you haven't got an outstanding claim. What. Eventually something on the system says I did phone and make the claim. Oh the forms must be lost. Can you go to Wick and collect duplicates?
So here I am after 9 weeks still waiting for a decision regarding my claim for income support, having meanwhile lived on fresh air, and the goodwill of friends still waiting for money to which I am entitled.
Meanwhile I hear today that the jobcentre staff have walked out after only being offered a 3% pay rise.
Can you imagine just how much sympathy I have for those poor civil servants :roll: