Difficulties dealing with the Benefits Systems

I shall keep my fingers crossed Katey but a little bit better by the sound of things.

Thanks for your interest GG, she just made it in time for the appointment after racing back from her volunteer role and dropping the children off with us. It appears that it went okay and she said they were okay with her, so her claim is in, she has to sign again in 2 weeks, she hasnt received anything from either housing benefit or JSA, but as its all online it appears that her Council Tax has altered but she cant understand why, so she is trying to sort that out. She will go back to the zero hours contract after the school holidays, but she is constantly on the look out for work on a more permanent footing.

Only just spotted the update Katey and wondering how this week is going. What a system!

Update, the rapid reclaim, was incorrect and she had to reapply. They are not interested in the fact that she has agreed to carry out a volunteer role next week and have insisted that she attend Job Centre meeting right in the middle of it and at a time she should be picking her kids up from child minder. She explained that she didnt want to take her kids to the meeting, but they weren't interested, they seem to go out of their way to make it difficult, I know they deal with lots of people who are not interested in working, but this is the first time she has had to look for help and only due to her having been made redundant. She doesn't deserve to be treated like this!

Thanks Barmy, hope your son is settled with everything now. Thank you to others who have responded, I had a quick text from my daughter this morning straight after her appointment, it is too rude to repeat, so not sure it went very well. She has taken on some volunteer work next week, so not sure how that will have gone down with Job Centre and she does have some redundancy money left which is a good job as she has had nothing in the way of benefits, other than some working tax credits whilst she was doing the zero hours work, but I think that will have stopped now the work has stopped and as she has 50/50 child care its just another complication that does not fit the tick boxes. Oh well, we shall see.

Katey , I worked with CAB until 2 years ago and believe me they can and will help and also get results. They may even be able to arrange an emergency payment. Did your daughter get a payout when she was made redundant because this can affect when she will get any payment. As for the benefit system.... Well it's a complete mess if any private company worked the way they do then they would be out of business. My son, a single parent, was injured nearly three years ago, he went on sickness benefit but last year decided he needed to return to work. What a nightmare! He ended up going 7 weeks with no money, unable to get a job and the benefit people messing him around. He did get some money and it was backdated also got a job but he needed a lot of emotional and financial support until then. See CAB, and keep on at the benefit people, noting who and when you talked and see if you can get an emergency payment. Good luck and don't let the b. Get you down

~Oriel I was told by staff in the ESA office that the only way to get your case moved up their queue was to ring in as otherwise it will languish there for months. If I start a query with them it's 'normal' for it to take anything up to 6 months and very often much longer to resolve. If I didn't ring them then it would never get done. They said that each team has a pile that is never ending and when someone calls in their case is pulled from the pile and actively worked on. I know that's shocking but I know this is the case. I often get letters asking for information I've already sent them and as I only send information via email with read receipts I can prove it was sent. I often feel very worried for the average person in the street who does not know the system well like I and other advisors do.

Glammy surely if, as you say, the offices are overworked and under-staffed it's not going to help the situation by having people calling every office every week ?

katykrunch I work as a benefits specialist within the NHS. I'm qualified and obviously know what I'm talking about and yet there are times my own forehead is bruised from constantly headbutting the wall. The best advice I can give to anyone when dealing with the various benefits offices is to take notes. Record the date and time of the call and the name of the person you are speaking with. Tell this person you record these details and that you are aware all calls are recorded. This means you are more likely to get the help you need and also able to dispute any errors as you will be able to say "I called on x date of X month at X time and spoke with X. I believe calls are recorded so if you check you'll find that x was said. It works for me every time. The whole zero hours contract scenario is a total nightmare for claimants as they have no way of knowing their income from one week to the next and this of course affects their entitlement. I can only comment for Northern Ireland and here they tend to look at 6 week averages for earnings as it's way too much work for them to be adjusting claims on a weekly basis. Again I can only comment on the system in Northern Ireland but housing benefit claims are normally processed and a decision made within a couple of weeks. Tell your daughter to never assume anything. Keep calling every week to all offices (DWP and housing) until the cases are resolved. The offices are over worked and understaffed and it really is a case of those who pester them are the ones whose cases get resolved the fastest. All this is ok if your mental health is ok. If it's not it is possible to have someone act on your behalf. Would your daughter be amenable to you taking over looking after her affairs for her, even if only on a temporary basis I wonder.

It is appalling Katey. They seem to have cut the staff and then asked them to do more. I understand they are doing more checks on people who receive Pension Credit. They used to give you a period in which you knew you were getting it if they could see you were unlikely to suddenly get more income but now they are 'reviewing' more frequently. It seems to all be done to switch people off from benefits for periods of time while they challenge the decision which, of course, adds to the stress of the person concerned and the work-load of the benefits people. It's a mad world I'm afraid.

I think your idea of you getting some information is a good one. I wish I could find a course to learn more but I don't have time at the moment (too busy working out Mum's disability benefits and caring for her!) and I think you would have to be immersed in it to understand what is happening.

Thanks for that info and perspective, I had a look at the link, and I might go along to a CAB open session to ask for a bit of info on what her entitlements might be, so I can at least try to navigate her in the right direction. She is doing some voluneer work this and next week as well as her time with the kids and I am just hoping that this is frowned upon by the Job Centre, it will be sods law that they want her to go to sign on when she has committed to some volunteering. We shall see. Whilst reading thro the link you gave, I read about someone who couldn't attend to sign on due to Jury Service, they were sanctioned!, there was no 'joined up thinking', Jury Service said legal requirement to attend, Job Centre said come for sign on appointment or get sanctioned, talk about being between and rock and a hard place! Seems very unfair.

I don't think people were ignoring you Katey - I hadn't seen your post (not looked at 'Active') so bumping it was worthwhile.

Having said that I think many people will feel out of their depth in trying to help - I certainly do. My only comment would be that the system is not fit for purpose so your daughter might well need help however she was feeling. I feel sure it isn't her[rolls eyes] and that most people need help. CAB seems like the best place to go but she may find The Consumer Action Group's Work and Social Forum helpful. They seem to have some people who are working in the system (or they did) who can signpost you which is often what is needed. Worth a look.

Katey so sorry to hear your daughter is having such problems.
Do assure your daughter that CAB and other helpful agencies exist to help people negotiate the minefield that is benefits. There is no shame in accepting a helping hand and it certainly takes the strain off both physically and mentally. Tell her to go for it and just claim anything that she can to help her back on her feet.

Thank you CassieJ and glammanana, she has an appointment on Friday with Job Centre, the housing benefit is in the pipeline, they needed her wage slip for last month but of course she is now in the position of no wage, so I am unsure how they work that out, but at least the ball is rolling again with the claim, so we shall see. Thank you for your input.

katey So sorry to hear your DD is experencing so much trouble getting benefits sorted it is a nightmare to say the least my daughter had to go through it a couple of years ago,she ended up ging to a benefits advisor through the CAB and she got things moving very quickly so make sure your girl goes and makes an appointment asap.Dont let your DD be affraid of asking what she is entitled to and make sure she has answers my DD was missing out on £s that she was entitled to,she did get it repaid when things where sorted as the benefit advisor had requested back payment for her housing bebefit & council tax.Also to day is the last day for Child Tax Credit Claims to be resubmitted so if your DD claims it make sure she has filled in the forms they can be found on line easily enough.Good luck sweetie.

The benefit system is a nightmare to work your way round. I am trying at the moment to claim a little housing benefit. I have taken in everything they asked for. They then up what they want and they now want a whole load more. it doesn't seem to matter what you give them, they want more and more evidence. This just delays all claims.
Is your daughter claiming all benefits that she can for her children? Try Gingerbread, and turn2us websites, they are both very good at letting you know what you can claim. Good luck to you and your daughter.

Thank you pensionpat, very interesting. The system just seems so hard to navigate when you are not feeling 100% and have not had the need and therefore no experience of how it all works. Thank you for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it.

Sorry you feel ignored Katey. I worked in the benefit system for 40 years. Pre computers the system was fairly quick, especially if the person had claimed recently. Over the years unemployment spiralled, several recessions. There were many, many changes in legislation, policies and IT systems. It makes me tired just thinking about it. I don't recall any of the changes being helpful to, or improving the experience of claimants/customers/clients. For example, by making people close their claim, even for a short time, this improves the "performance". One more person off the dole. At the same time I can appreciate the need for rules, and control and protection of public funds. I sympathise with your daughter. i hope she can get the support she needs.

I've definitely had an invisible pill, or has the ignore button been pressed?