Anyone been down the Job Centre?

ianian99

robin_banks wrote: »

It is, but they are PROCESSED elsewhere, HB and CTB by the local authority, JSA by job centre staff, Icome Support/Incapacity by the local benefits office etc.

It's a nightmare for claimants and staff alike.

Why is it a nightmare for claimants. they fill out all the forms, hand in tennancy agreements etc then its out of their hands. The housing benefit will process a claim almost instantly here as long as you have given them all they require.
If you dont then it will take agaes
.

plus your not going to claim jsa, Income Support/Incapacity and hb are you. Its going to be jsa or incapacity and hb+ council tax.
As I said they seem to manage to do it within 24 hours in coventry if you give them everything they require but maybe cov has some special office that can deal with things that other offices cant

amcluesent

I do recall finding that the Job Centre would pay expenses for going to job interviews.

Realistically I can only find work in London, so I was turning up with my return tickets for repayment - they were not AT ALL pleased! Much checking to ensure I had gone at the cheapest fare possible, LOL.

HR Manager - "Can you come in for a 9am interview?"
Me - "No, the Job Centre people say I must only travel off-peak."
Brrrrrr.....

PasturesNew

robin_banks wrote: »

This is the biggest problem facing all DWP/Benefits/HB Staff - 3 different organisations do the processing , and guess what there processed in 3 different offices -it's bonkers.

I never knew that.

PasturesNew

amcluesent wrote: »

I do recall finding that the Job Centre would pay expenses for going to job interviews.

Realistically I can only find work in London, so I was turning up with my return tickets for repayment - they were not AT ALL pleased! Much checking to ensure I had gone at the cheapest fare possible, LOL.

HR Manager - "Can you come in for a 9am interview?"
Me - "No, the Job Centre people say I must only travel off-peak."
Brrrrrr.....

You can get some help for some job interviews.
- not if the job is temporary
- they contact the employer and ask if you're going/have been
- there are rules on what you can claim/method etc

PasturesNew

ianian99 wrote: »

Why is it a nightmare for claimants. they fill out all the forms, hand in tennancy agreements etc then its out of their hands. The housing benefit will process a claim almost instantly here as long as you have given them all they require.
If you dont then it will take agaes
.

plus your not going to claim jsa, Income Support/Incapacity and hb are you. Its going to be jsa or incapacity and hb+ council tax.
As I said they seem to manage to do it within 24 hours in coventry if you give them everything they require but maybe cov has some special office that can deal with things that other offices cant

That's the thing. People have no idea. People go expecting to be told what they can claim and being given the right info/forms.

I know somebody who put in a claim for one thing and was refused, but they should have been claiming for something else (same amount/different name). But they didn't know what they could claim/what is out there. They just trusted the staff to guide them right - and there is no guidance it seems.

ianian99

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's the thing. People have no idea. People go expecting to be told what they can claim and being given the right info/forms.

I know somebody who put in a claim for one thing and was refused, but they should have been claiming for something else (same amount/different name). But they didn't know what they could claim/what is out there. They just trusted the staff to guide them right - and there is no guidance it seems.

New claims are done over the phone now, they ask you all the questions and send out the forms and book an appointmnt for you to go in. your claim starts the day you phone.
They tell you what benefit you can get based on the info you give them so if your claiming the wrong thing then its probably a mistake of the claimant as opposed to the dole really. Also they are not going to sit and tell you all the added extras you can claim , they just deal with your main entitlement.
Theres LOADS of hidden things you can claim and obviously they dont want to advertise it as they want to save as much money as possible and with everyone working complaining about the doleys getting EVERYTHING for free who can blame them.

mvengemvenge

PasturesNew wrote: »

You can get some help for some job interviews.
- not if the job is temporary
- they contact the employer and ask if you're going/have been
- there are rules on what you can claim/method etc

Temporary - yes you can, depends what kind of help you mean.

Contact - not necessarily - if you have a letter about the interview, I think that's ok.

What you can claim - yes, it's taxpayers' money, so there have to be stops and checks - I would hope people on here would applaud that.




"I know somebody who put in a claim for one thing and was refused, but they should have been claiming for something else (same amount/different name). But they didn't know what they could claim/what is out there. They just trusted the staff to guide them right - and there is no guidance it seems."

A couple of years ago, the processing staff were moved out of jobcentres and they moved to a call centre method of making claims. The call centres are staffed by people who read questions from a script. These could often be people who've got no actual knowledge of the benefits involved. Therefore, even with the best of intentions, mistakes happen, unfortunately. I know many jobcentre staff who are unhappy with the service that's now given, but they were never asked "Will it work"? The staff aren't trained be fully-blown career advisers (beyond general common sense advice), they refer you on to specialist providers for that.