DWP - Incompetence or Understaffed or Both?

[ToothbrushMan]

What are peoples experiences with either the DWP or JobCentre Plus?

It seems that an awful amount of letters they apparently send out are never received which sets people up to fail by inadvertently missing deadlines for information or appointments they are relying on to receive benefit, they are slow to respond to your queries or they repeatedly do not receive any information they have requested that you have posted to them.

I dont find the waiting time on the phone too bad and at least its a FREEPHONE number - I feel sorry for those people who used to have to pay for ringing them to sort out their benefits - hardly the sort of people in any financial position to be able to afford a premium rate phone line so at least this was changed for the better. Even more so if your money had already run out and you was just running up a huge bill. Catch 22.

I was asked for information a few weeks back by the DWP about Jobseekers allowance and decided to send my info in in triplicate and having called them today 10 days on they still have no trace of anything from me! Yet they can send out letters on the very day that said letters are advising climanats they have an interview that same day! That is what I call unilateral efficiency! Anyway all post goes to a central posting centre and then divvied out to the local offices to deal with but still you would think after 10 days it would have at least been logged as "Received" even if i had to wait another few days for a decision.

[Jasandjules]

I used to deal with the Appeals against refusals to award disability benefits - the level of incompetence (or maybe it was deliberate to prevent people getting what they were entitled to) was astonishing.

[guindilias]

Civil Servants, in probably the dullest and most uninspiring jobs about. Pretty much covers it.

I had a friend who went to work for the CSA - she lasted about 3 months before quitting, and she was no soft pushover. Thankless task.

[kowalski655]

Jasandjules said:

I used to deal with the Appeals against refusals to award disability benefits - the level of incompetence (or maybe it was deliberate to prevent people getting what they were entitled to) was astonishing.

I used to make the decisions and the level of stupidity amongst my colleagues was breath taking!
I was, of course, brilliant

[Hoofy]

Hard to get sacked, no need to hit any targets, just keep your head down for the next 30 years and you're good, son.

Based on my experience of working with, knowing employees of and being a customer of various government and LG organisations over my years. Well, I may be completely wrong, but this is how it comes across as. If that is their intention, then I am definitely wrong and they are amazing at portraying this image.

Edited by Hoofy on Wednesday 12th December 15:16

[Sticks.]

Hoofy said:

Hard to get sacked, no need to hit any targets, just keep your head down for the next 30 years and you're good, son.

Edited by Hoofy on Wednesday 12th December 15:16

Jobcentre staff will have lots of targets, which wil influence their pay.

DWP combines an unpleasant mix of incompetence and an institutionally dated attitude to customer service imho.

[guindilias]

I would beg to differ - Civil Service employees are no marked as "Satisfactory" or "Not satisfactory" as opposed to the old 1-5 box system.
Because their line managers realise that a "non-satisfactory" rating may affect their pay, they are very unlikely to mark even poor performers down like that - so everyone is given a "satisfactory rating, or the line manager.

Because they realise that non satisfactory markings turn staff against them, which affects morale surveys, and the line manager's own annual review rating.

It's very much a "don't upset people and you'll be fine" culture.

Source - I was once a Civil Servant and have a lot of friends in the DWP and JBO's....
Annual surveys of satisfaction, morale, happiness with management etc. - mean a LOT to the big bosses, so they want plenty of "Everything's great" boxes ticked - and the DWP in particular have very low ratings in morale and pretty much everything else - except when asked about their line managers. These tend to stay in the "good" category if you don't give your staff a non-satisfactory rating.

So it is indeed a case of "keep your head down" and you'll be fine - and scroll through the weekly transfer lists to see if you can move to a different department, not quite as miserable as the one you are in...

[Jasandjules]

kowalski655 said:

I used to make the decisions and the level of stupidity amongst my colleagues was breath taking!
I was, of course, brilliant

Well good to know it is not deliberate I guess.......

[guindilias]

Unless it's farmed out to an independent company, like Capita or whoever - I think they turn down something obscene like 80% of claimants, but then those 80% are 80% likely approved for PiP or whatever they call it these days, on appeal?
A girl I know well was turned down because she could (in severe pain) walk 20m unaided - they didn't consider the fact that that would be her legs pretty much left useless for two days.
Appealed, filled in the form, and was immediately given her Motability car back.

[ToothbrushMan]

guindilias said:

Unless it's farmed out to an independent company, like Capita or whoever - I think they turn down something obscene like 80% of claimants, but then those 80% are 80% likely approved for PiP or whatever they call it these days, on appeal?
A girl I know well was turned down because she could (in severe pain) walk 20m unaided - they didn't consider the fact that that would be her legs pretty much left useless for two days.
Appealed, filled in the form, and was immediately given her Motability car back.

glad she won and got her car back.

what pees me off is the time expended not only by the poor claimant but the DWP in sending you around the houses for week up on week with their slowness in replying but under the veil of "saving money" for the taxpayer. How are they saving money? surely all the additional hoop jumping delay tactics and mal-administration lengthens the process and thus costs more money not less? so they create these hurdles ke the lady above and at the end of the day at appeal they win their cases. all because the DWP are trying it on.

I heard a case the other day of a blind lady who had her payment stopped and she went through a load of cr*p to try and get it all reinstated. you really feel for these people. genuine claimants who are ill disabled or unemployed should be able to rely on welfare know its there to protect them during the hard times.

if the DWP and government want to mess people about in the name of saving money how if we just stop paying into the system for welfare and everyone gets a pay rise as a result. no welfare system and we sack the whole DWP.

[Sticks.]

guindilias said:

I would beg to differ - Civil Service employees are no marked as "Satisfactory" or "Not satisfactory" as opposed to the old 1-5 box system.
Because their line managers realise that a "non-satisfactory" rating may affect their pay, they are very unlikely to mark even poor performers down like that - so everyone is given a "satisfactory rating, or the line manager.
.

I didn't know that. That sounds like a very backward step.

Re appealing decisions, I think what's often forgotten is that each successful appeal is a huge waste of public money.

[Pieman68]

guindilias said:

Unless it's farmed out to an independent company, like Capita or whoever - I think they turn down something obscene like 80% of claimants, but then those 80% are 80% likely approved for PiP or whatever they call it these days, on appeal?
A girl I know well was turned down because she could (in severe pain) walk 20m unaided - they didn't consider the fact that that would be her legs pretty much left useless for two days.
Appealed, filled in the form, and was immediately given her Motability car back.

Sounds familiar. Dad got turned down for disability a few years back.

Made redundant at 57, having worked since he was an apprentice at 14, he struggled to find a job (add on remission for leukaemia, 2 operations to replace verterba in his neck with a titanium cage and cervical myeolopathy/hereditary spastic paraperisis which severely hampered his mobility

After being turned down for disability benefit he went to appeal. Was told to bring his meds with him. He walked to the train station to get there - 10 minute walk took him 1hr 20mins. Appeal turned down as he could walk unaided whilst carrying a bag (the meds he was asked to take with him, all 30 tablets a day)

They nearly had to sell their house and he had to sign on for his £10 a week in order to claim his mortgage insurance (otherwise he was going to tell them to shove it). Only my grandad passing away saved them having to sell up after 40 years of working

12 months later add on type 2 diabetes and he got his benefits straight away

Utterly incompetent cretins of the highest order

[R-t6t6s]

Having recently worked for the DWP, I can tell you that there are plenty of people there trying to do the best for claimants. However, the investment in systems and staff has been pathetic for years, so there aren't enough people to run the day to day business, and even if there were, likely the system would have crashed anyway.

If you want someone to blame, it would be the people who set the budgets for these departments, the competent lot who are making such a success of Brexit at the moment!

[toon10]

If the IT Service Manager roles are anything to go by, the pay at the DWP falls horribly short. If it's the same in other roles then they are not going to attract the best talent and motivate them to go the extra mile unless there are other none financial benefits they excel at. My cousin worked there and she said it was a soulless, depressing place full of clock watchers. That was a few years ago mind.