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

flo5

Lol - no he worked there as well

reading the posts made me recall the threats, abuse, and the occasional thanks, One claimant even bought me some flowers ( when he got a nice bit of arrears).

The work was stressful at times but the colleagues were a great bunch

You viewed life from a different prospective.

willa

Hi,
I actually came to this from another thread where it was suggested that all benefits workers were being 'tarred with the same brush'. Just to maybe add a bit of balance here:
I am on incapacity benefit and have been on jobseekers and housing ben before and have had a few bad experiences of dealing with benefits staff. One is that of ringing up for info and being told completely different things by different people, leading to much confusion and mishap.
Recently, I have been forced to attend interviews with a 'trained expert' who knew nothing at all about my primary medical condition, and displayed no embarrassment about this, nor interest in finding out about it. I had to endure some pretty ignorant, patronising, and upsetting comments from her as a consequence.
If the roles had been reversed, I would have made damn sure to have made it part of my job to find out about the condition of the person I was talking about, once it was apparent that my knowledge was lacking. Seems like common humanity and courtesy to me.
One final observation is that in my experience benefits workers are certainly not rushed off their feet in their jobs. They seem to get a pretty easy ride in that respect, and not a bad salary in my view, for what they do.
Cue angry barrage of replies I'm sure. Just please try to remember if you work in the benefits system, how the people you are dealing with must feel, especially if they are ill. All too often it seems that this consideration is lacking.

zappster1966

Current DWP vacancies here :-
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/working/vacancies.asp

Talk the talk, Willa, walk the walk.

Oldernotwiser

willa wrote: »

Hi,

Recently, I have been forced to attend interviews with a 'trained expert' who knew nothing at all about my primary medical condition, and displayed no embarrassment about this, nor interest in finding out about it. I had to endure some pretty ignorant, patronising, and upsetting comments from her as a consequence.
If the roles had been reversed, I would have made damn sure to have made it part of my job to find out about the condition of the person I was talking about, once it was apparent that my knowledge was lacking. Seems like common humanity and courtesy to me..

I think that you might find that the expert isn't supposed to be an expert in specific medical matters. If you were seeing claimants at half to one hour intervals, how could you possibly find out about all the different medical conditions you were dealing with, day in and day out?

It's unrealistic to expect that level of knowledge from a non medical person and shows that you misinterpreted the role of the expert you saw.

redz

willa wrote: »

One final observation is that in my experience benefits workers are certainly not rushed off their feet in their jobs. They seem to get a pretty easy ride in that respect, and not a bad salary in my view, for what they do.

Your experience must be very limited. A new entrant AA to the DWP will only receive a few pence more than minimum wage. A new entrant AO to the DWP will only earn a pound more than minimum wage. A lot of DWP employees have to claim tax credits. The stereotype of civil servants being over-paid and under-worked is very much a fallacy.

I'd go into more depth responding to your comments but your post count makes me think you're just trolling.

sinstar

A response i come to expect from you ESA obviously life in your garden is constantly rosy

Are you suggesting that someone abandoning their children in an office is just one of life's usual ups and downs? Something that happens to us all? Life isn't perfect, so of course it's alright to abandon your kids? Hilarious.

"You're just looking at the world through rose tinted spectacles if you can't see that neglecting your kids isn't a necessary part of life!"

seven-day-weekend

Blabby is trying to cause trouble.

Do not feed the troll.

c0113tt3

blabby2 wrote: »

Incidentally, when these Permanent(not contracted) civil servants get sick more often than not they play the system to the fullest. Most, who are savvy to the system, ensure they go long term sick. The line manager and health manager are not happy about this however as long as they keep putting in sick notes there is nothing they can do and under the present regime the management are reluctant to medically retire them Union issues etc.
When they eventually return usually anywhere between six months to 18 months,( most civil servants are women and their husband is the main wage earner,they usually use their wages to buy designer dresses or their holiday spending money.In fact the reason their Union is so powerless now is due mainly to this ) they are usually promotede and transfered to another department just to get rid off that sections books.
Finally when they do get back you can be assured they waste no time in telling you how their illness has made their life hell which you can easily deduce from their sunburnt(had to go to Mexico to recover) face

All i can say roll on 2010 and the worknote;)

What a load of bs.

Managing attendance is exceptionally strict within the civil service, and has been a priority year on year for several years now, and again gets reduced. It is at such a point staff dare not get sick, and even goto work very ill indeed.

As for the more long term sick, again managing attendance comes into play and can be sacked, and thousands have been sacked by this method. This even includes cases as serious with cancer / treatments and disabilities. Civil servants are now very harshly treated with the managing attendance policy. Government / managment used this policy to continuosly reduce head count year on year for the last several years.

Oldernotwiser

blabby2 wrote: »

When they eventually return usually anywhere between six months to 18 months,( most civil servants are women and their husband is the main wage earner,they usually use their wages to buy designer dresses or their holiday spending money.;)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

What's the weather like on Planet Blabby?

zappster1966

Mexican holidays and designer dresses ? ROFLMAO

Having done the "better off" calculation myself, I'd be better off taking a £200 pcm cut in income and resigning from the civil service altogether ... because effectively that's all I receive each month for working 42 hrs per week, once I factor in all the benefits and perks that I could get but don't.

Designer dresses indeed ... hands up who wants to see Zappy in a dress ????

Don't all rush at once !!