For all the benefit advisors and other that give their expertise!

nova

I'd like to say, (and l like to think l speak for a lot of people on here) as to how much your advice is apprieciated.The benefits system is so complicated lm sure you must feel like coming home from work and saying "sod it" l've had enough for one day, but you dont you come on here and offer more support and advice.
The thing is, if we have a question/problem we dont have to wait on the end of a phone we can come on here and get an answer in minutes.
So , thank you very much.

Nova XXX:T

atomicsheep

the advantage is....
when im at work I give answers based on the guidance i am given, I may take a claim from someone who I know for a fact doesn't have a hope in hell of getting the benefit

On here i can give the real answers to the question hopfully saving that person alot of hassle

Ditzy_2

Unfortunately do not give more help here (time factor)- but at work I wonder if anybody appreciates what we really do. I help peeps with claims and wonder whether they got backdates and won appeals I help with (to the best of my knowledge!!) I have to check back on the claim myself to find out 'cause no b****r comes back!!! But will continue if I still get that fuzzy feeling that I did right!!!

alwaysonthego_2

Thanks Nova

I would like to make the point that when a poster asks for benefit advice they give as much information as possible which will help us assist them properly. We usually ask ops diaognostic questions such as, do they have savings, children? etc etc. I have noticed lately that other posters have been chipping in saying that we are out of order and being nosey asking these questions. This is not the case, if you went to the CAB they would ask you the same type of questions.

nova

Oh l know! l realise that you have to ask questions. When my OH first realised he was going to be off sick for quite a while l started looking for a job there and then, l realised that l'd need this computer course to widen my choice, as there was a job advertised in our local benefits agency but to be honest apart from not having the neseccery computer skills, the though of some of the claimants worried me, l certainly dont mean everybody (before l get shouted at !) l just think that some people think they're being got at rather than helped and are on the defensive straight away.
l must say all the advisors we/l have spoken to have been great, be it ESA or council tax, more than helpful, apart from yesterday not horrible just a bit vague!!!! Thats why l ask you!!!!!
nova XX

zappster1966

It's very rare to get any positive feedback, certainly working with Jobcentre Plus. Think in 20 yrs all I've had have been a couple of letters of praise & a box of Maltesers (which management wouldn't let me keep in case they'd been tampered with ... straight in the bucket).

A customer once sent me a bag of pebbles & stones though ... what was I going to do about them ? Some kids had thrown them at her greenhouse ... yeah, right. And I once got some dogsh*t in a McDonalds styrofoam box, mm, charming. At least I hope it was from a dog *shudders*

On the subject of unmentionables, late 80's our office got invaded by Poll Tax demonstrators. Once they'd been cleared out by the Police we discovered one of the demonstrators had pulled the Queen's portrait from the office manager's wall, removed & smashed the glass, then sh*t on Queen's portrait.

And of course I've been spat on, sworn at, we've had bricks thrown through the windows, car tyres slashed, had one customer slashed from ear to ear at reception, druggies shooting up & collasping in the loos.

You name it, we've seen it.

And I'm sure the other DWP employees here can tell you similar tales. And yet here they all appear after their evening meals & still help folks in their spare time.

They're a selfless lot.

nova

zappster1966 wrote: »

It's very rare to get any positive feedback, certainly working with Jobcentre Plus. Think in 20 yrs all I've had have been a couple of letters of praise & a box of Maltesers (which management wouldn't let me keep in case they'd been tampered with ... straight in the bucket).

A customer once sent me a bag of pebbles & stones though ... what was I going to do about them ? Some kids had thrown them at her greenhouse ... yeah, right. And I once got some dogsh*t in a McDonalds styrofoam box, mm, charming. At least I hope it was from a dog *shudders*

On the subject of unmentionables, late 80's our office got invaded by Poll Tax demonstrators. Once they'd been cleared out by the Police we discovered one of the demonstrators had pulled the Queen's portrait from the office manager's wall, removed & smashed the glass, then sh*t on Queen's portrait.

And of course I've been spat on, sworn at, we've had bricks thrown through the windows, car tyres slashed, had one customer slashed from ear to ear at reception, druggies shooting up & collasping in the loos.

You name it, we've seen it.

And I'm sure the other DWP employees here can tell you similar tales. And yet here they all appear after their evening meals & still help folks in their spare time.

They're a selfless lot.

OMG thats awful!! but sadly doesnt suprise me, at least on here we cant throw things at you!!! or do nasties on the queens picture!!! Despite all that lm still quite interested in working there.
Nova XXX

alwaysonthego_2

I can imagine Zappster, even though I volunteer for a charity, I have had people shout at me (or should I say scream), sarcasm because they don't like the reality etc. I think clients think I am paid so therefore can be abusive, but this is not the case. Thankfully it is rare most people are nice, though in the 2 years I have been there not a thankyou card/letter or chocolates.

zappster1966

Working at reception in an old style social security office really was the pits, tbh.

The sheer numbers coming through the doors had to be seen to be believed. On average we had 200-250 members of the public each day between four counter clerks, a supervisor & a crisis loans officer. On top of that we had "the regulars" coming in for counter payments ... folks who couldnt be trusted with orderbooks because of persistent fraud.

So you can imagine how busy it got. One customer with a long enquiry could take 30 mins or longer, by which time the queue was really starting to build up, you could see the punters getting disgruntled having to wait so long. I don't blame them. But we couldn't conjure staff out of thin air.

And you know something ? The worst people to deal with weren't the regulars or the long term claimants. Not at all. It was the ones who thought themselves better than everyone else in the queue, the professional people, the "middle classes" who found themselves in their own time of need & resentful of the fact they were even in the office at all.

And they'd shred you about every inadequacy of "the system", expecting you to know the intricacies of every single benefit, you'd come away from them feeling shell-shocked. Then next in the queue is someone reporting a death ... and you've got to instantly switch into another mode altogether, caring & compassionate ... next could be a druggy screaming the place down for a giro for his next fix & who "knows where you live".

The staff "upstairs" had a not much better time of it either. Staff trying to answer the phones, completely overwhelmed by the volume of queries. Other staff trying to assess entitlements but each juggling with a caseload of several thousand claims each. Benefit delivery is akin to that guy who spun plates on a pole in the "Generation Game", you're getting more & more plates flung at you every day & you're desperately trying to keep them all spinning away. And some fall off & smash. And they end up posting their grievances on places like MSE.

Mentally exhausting it is. It's really easy to criticise the folk in Job Centres but until you've actually "walked the walk" you'll never understand how absurd the entire benefit system is, it's miles too complicated, the expectations of the public are totally unrealistic sometimes.

And all for the princely sum of £14-17k pa. Most of the women I work with receive tax credits themselves. You'd think we were living the life of riley the way we're spoken to.

Ho well.

That's a moan & a half. Sunday afternoon & I'm already dreading tmorro morning ...

sharski

Great post, Zappster!!!
I know exactly what you mean about the 'worst' people to deal with...!!

When I knew that the person I was due to see was self employed, a teacher or a former civil servant (they are a nightmare too!) I used to dread it!!

Thankfully, my role is more admin based... but you still see some action!!

deb0020

zappster1966 wrote: »

And you know something ? The worst people to deal with weren't the regulars or the long term claimants. Not at all. It was the ones who thought themselves better than everyone else in the queue, the professional people, the "middle classes" who found themselves in their own time of need & resentful of the fact they were even in the office at all.

I quite agree with you zappster. This type of customer is the worst to deal with. They seem to expect better treatment because they have paid more into the system and never claimed before. They take up my time with moaning about the system when I should be getting benefits processed and payments sent out to people who need it. They are shocked at how low the benefit rates are and seem to think that as they have been earning 50k+ they shouild get higher rates of contributory benefits. The way I look at is if someone has been a high earner they should have been able to both save and pay into insurance schemes.

rant over