Dwp again. Is it me ??

ordinarygirl

I am an ex government department. I worked from home - way before the covid episode. Many of my colleagues worked from home. We all exceeded the required hours
There was no room for us all to work from the office . If we had to go into the office for meetings etc then we had to take in our laptops. So no double funding for computers.
Most of the public did not know we worked from home as we provided a more than adequate service.
The difference between then and now is that the government has not set up the infrastructure for homeworkers. I had a phone which had a direct access to the public, laptop and printer. I printed off stuff and posted it.

If managers got their fingers out and provided the infrastructure then a good service could be provided.

Many banks now have home workers and a good service is provided

I work from home and have done so since covid. The quality of my work and the ability to work efficiently are no different to when I had to commute to a busy office.

The need to print or post anything has never arisen as everything is digital.

If people are inefficient working from home they were likely inefficient when they worked in the office.

In fact I get more work done at home because there are fewer distractions.

The only downside is I can get lonely.

Don't you get it in your email?

No we don't rent another home. I did look at government gateway and saw my NI contributions etc and pension forecast. Wasn't able yo apply from there and can't sort out queries like lack of post etc

NanaTuesday

Nana56
You can still access you information online without a letter , I believe.

Yes, through logging on to the Government Gateway.

However, having had a look at my NI contribution record, I'm more confused than ever as some years seem to be missing.

That's why I was promised the forms which have not yet arrived.

You don’t rent another home either?

Nana56
You can still access you information online without a letter , I believe.

I wish I did own two homes

Do you by any chance own two homes?

No definitely WFP , showed on my bank statement x

You’re not confusing cost of living payments with winter fuel payments are you?

Well I've given up. When the error is noticed I'll happily repay

I must say, some people work from home and are extremely efficient. They do get more done without the distractions of the office!

The postman has just been. Still no forms.

Callistemon21

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?

You have hit the nail on the head. WFH!!! I appreciate the way people work has changed for some but if you cannot complete a person's request, such as sending you your forms, then WFH isn't efficient. Get back to the office. They can't still be blaming Covid, surely.

You have my sympathy Nana56. It must be very frustrating and now, no doubt there’ll be a Bank Holiday backlog to get through.

Thanks for replying Georgesgran. We received £500 each. Obviously an error and I have kept to one side.
After the struggle to get me pension I have been loathe to call . That's the main reason I wanted to check my info was correct.
Briefly, my invitation to apply for my pension was lost in the post and I was told I couldn't be sent another . Tried to apply on line but as I wasn't using a credit card couldn't couldn't get verified ??
So applied by post, first form didn't arrive. Phoned for second one. Then was told was lost in system. Then was found 2 wks later. Was told woukd raise a complaint, next phone call told me couldn't do that. Aghhhh

I found out mine several days ago when I received notification of my new tax code..
Still not heard from the official source at DWP.
Ironical isn't it -the ones who are giving to us are dragging their feet and the ones who want to take it off us are on the ball.

How much did you get Nans56 for your WFA? It was an increased amount in ‘23, so some GNs might be able to help you with that.

For what it's worth, I received notification of my PIP increase on Saturday, but I've not heard about the ESA increase yet, even though I know I could look it up online if I wanted to.
I assume with the majority of the staff still wfh, there'll be a backlog regarding next week's increases, and we'll see them in the bank before we get written notification.

Theexwife

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

Not true

I am an ex government department. I worked from home - way before the covid episode. Many of my colleagues worked from home. We all exceeded the required hours
There was no room for us all to work from the office . If we had to go into the office for meetings etc then we had to take in our laptops. So no double funding for computers.
Most of the public did not know we worked from home as we provided a more than adequate service.
The difference between then and now is that the government has not set up the infrastructure for homeworkers. I had a phone which had a direct access to the public, laptop and printer. I printed off stuff and posted it.

If managers got their fingers out and provided the infrastructure then a good service could be provided.

Many banks now have home workers and a good service is provided

For some people on the state pension its not always the case that the increases are shown on line yes with the old basic and the new state pension increases can be looked up, however any additions, graduated retirement benefit and SERPS under the old rules and the protected payment under the new rules were only increased by 6.7% so it can be difficult to know exactly what you will get unless you get a letter or phone them up

I am NOT clogging up the system. I cannot access my information online as I have had NO letters except for my initial one.
I wanted to check they had all my details correct in the hope of getting communication
For example , I think that received too much winter fuel allowance.
That's one of the main reasons I wanted to speak with a person.
The option I chose was general enquiry as not a new claim and nothing had changed.

Ive had no mail from DWP either...You are not alone

Jeremy Hunt plans to slash thousands of Civil Service jobs.

It can only get worse.