Dwp again. Is it me ??

They're not an emergency service.
People should be able to phone and speak to someone who will help them with a query.

In the case of not receiving the letter re the upcoming rise in state pension,can’t believe the writer wasted time phoning them .so what ?the only time I’d phone them is if the new amount wasn’t credited in April as says on their website .No wonder they are always so busy and long waiting times when people like this are phoning them ver nothing!

Actually spoke to someone sensible ( I think ) last week … telling me my voluntary payment made Jan 23 have still not been added due to an error xx no explanation why I’d not been contacted but told me to expect a reply to a letter received in June 23 approximately sept 24 ….. I can’t get a forecast until it’s all updated … and they can’t tell me if it’s worth it or not until they do ….. going round in circles

MissAdventure

No, your form will be directed immediately to the "we have no record of that" department.

It's always busy in there!
Lots of people, highly trained in losing 39 page forms.

Having worked for the DWP you’re bang on 😂😂😂😂😂

That department is next to the “how (not) to give the best customer service” dept!

A few weeks after my husbands sudden death I received letters from HMRC asking about a property he (according to them) owned abroad.
This was complete nonsense, I looked up the address on Google earth, it was on an industrial estate in Europe.
My very ill father, who was executor and myself travelled to an office to be tret in an awful manner, leaving no further foreward. Had my father not been a businessman used to dealing with authorities I dread to think how I would have coped at the time.
Eventually a 'clerical error' was blamed.
Not a lot of good after the dreadful time we were put through.
An ill elderly gentleman and a new widow.
I still have some of the correspondence, it still annoys me many years later.

Last communication I received from the DWP was in 2015 telling me I would receive my state pension in 2017 on my 60th birthday-🙄🤷🏻‍♀️

All the information is online, people phoning rather than looking it up will be clogging up the system.

I am an appointee for someone and it took me all day to get through to someone at ESA. iirc it took 4 hours from being put from one line to another. I had taken the day off work as it was proving fruitless to ring and wait either before or after my work hours.

I haven’t had a letter informing me of the change to my pension next month, but I’m not really bothered because I assume it’ll arrive in my bank and then I’ll know. However, it strikes me that not much has changed since all the WASPI women didn’t receive any notification of their pension ages. The DWP really should get itself organised and together. It’s simply not good enough.

spabbygirl

Brahumbug

Most paperwork is scanned into the system and accessible by anyone on a computer, working from home makes no real difference. Government cuts to staff and office space mean that staff can't work from the office even if they wanted to, as JRM should have been aware of, if he wasn't an arse of the highest order. Access to information and coordination are nothing to do with working from home. I personally hated working from home as I enjoyed the social atmosphere of the office, but it was down to government decisions.

Love it Brahumbug!!! He is indeed an arse of the highest order! As are most of his pals!

Finally someone has described JRM to my satisfaction. Of all obnoxious politicians he is the one who raises my hackles the most! I live in the forlorn hope that he will be ousted at the next general election.

I have written with queries regarding the amount of state pension I receive and have never had a reply, started this over 12 mths ago. I sent the last letter recorded delivery but as yet no response.
I do think HMRC are worse, I sent them a form to complete and it was returned 14 months later and only half filled in, I thought they had probably just scrapped it. It was of no use whatsoever to me as we were then in a different tax year and consequently unacceptable to the company who wanted the info. It did come with a brief letter form HMRC to say if it was no longer acceptable then please send in another form!!! As if!!!

Dealing with the DWP in my experience is a complete waste of time. Last year I had someone claiming benefit from my house. I did not know the man and reported it several times even to the extent of going into a DWP office only to be told there was nothing they could do because they had no way of knowing if I was telling a lie, and trying to stop him, claiming! This went on for seven months. I was very concerned that this man would turn up on my doorstep at sometime so I reported it to my MP who sent my concerns to the director General of the DWP who took the case up.

I then received a phone call from the DWP telling me that the matter had been an administrative error and that somebody had put in my address by mistake and I would no longer received any post from them. An hour later, the man turned up on my doorstep, demanding his paperwork. It turned out the DWP had told him where I lived, and where the paperwork had gone to. He was belligerent and nasty. I was so upset that my neighbours insisted I called the police and report him which I did. The DWP had done no background check on him he had merely filled in forms given a mobile number and his bank details. I would never deal with them in the future, I would make an appointment with either age, UK or citizens advice

I haven't received those forms from the DWP yet.

Lip service and empty promises.

Brahumbug

Most paperwork is scanned into the system and accessible by anyone on a computer, working from home makes no real difference. Government cuts to staff and office space mean that staff can't work from the office even if they wanted to, as JRM should have been aware of, if he wasn't an arse of the highest order. Access to information and coordination are nothing to do with working from home. I personally hated working from home as I enjoyed the social atmosphere of the office, but it was down to government decisions.

Love it Brahumbug!!! He is indeed an arse of the highest order! As are most of his pals!

Brahumbug

Most paperwork is scanned into the system and accessible by anyone on a computer, working from home makes no real difference. Government cuts to staff and office space mean that staff can't work from the office even if they wanted to, as JRM should have been aware of, if he wasn't an arse of the highest order. Access to information and coordination are nothing to do with working from home. I personally hated working from home as I enjoyed the social atmosphere of the office, but it was down to government decisions.

HMRC do this and, from my working experience, regularly lose everything.

Most paperwork is scanned into the system and accessible by anyone on a computer, working from home makes no real difference. Government cuts to staff and office space mean that staff can't work from the office even if they wanted to, as JRM should have been aware of, if he wasn't an arse of the highest order. Access to information and coordination are nothing to do with working from home. I personally hated working from home as I enjoyed the social atmosphere of the office, but it was down to government decisions.

I did receive notification of my new pension amounts, but not my DLA. I just looked it up. I haven’t got the energy to try and phone them.😳

Oh no!

Actually, I think what he was saying was "I really don't have a clue and I'm not at all interested".
Still not received the forms.

If I ever get them I'd better keep a copy just in case.

How long ago did JRM kick up a fuss about civil servants still wfh? That seems to have done a lot of good (not).

No, your form will be directed immediately to the "we have no record of that" department.

It's always busy in there!
Lots of people, highly trained in losing 39 page forms.

When I contacted someone last week a person actually answered. He said he was working from home and could not send me the forms I needed.

If a lot of the staff are working from home there could be a lack of co-ordination, lack of access to the information and paperwork required and consequently chaos and inefficiency.

I can only make a query by filling in actual paper forms and sending them back will there be an actual person in the office to open the post, read the forms and deal with queries?

The new rates for benefits are online now

Ditto Vera. It’s really not worth worrying about and spending ages on the phone to the DWP.

For what it's worth neither of us has had a letter with the new rates on yet.
We'll find out when it's in the bank if not before 🤷