JSA Refused...and I'm confused!!! Help please

busy_mom_2

BeenieCat wrote: »

Okay so if you say the people who process the claims, decision makers and so on, spend all day also taking calls relating to the claims they have processed, why does the staff member on here say differently.

Okay so i worded it wrong in an earlier post, but as i said, the people i've ever spoken to do not process claims, they contact the people who have on your behalf who then get someone to call you back

You ring the telephony team who email the processers who call you back. The benefit processing centre dealt with all benefits not just JSA they have a team who answer phone queries only if they cannot answer your query they send an email to someone on another floor who calls you back. Hundreds of people work in these processing centres.
They aren't based in a job centre.
Decison makers arn't based in jobcentres either, you also have labour market decision makers and benefit decision maker, two totally different jobs following 2 different laws.
Do you finally believe I know my job I know how the process works, hence why I get to become a manger? I am not skirting any of my responsibilites.:T

BeenieCat

busy_mom wrote: »

You ring the telephony team who email the processers who call you back. The benefit processing centre dealt with all benefits not just JSA they have a team who answer phone queries only if they cannot answer your query they send an email to someone on another floor who calls you back. Hundreds of people work in these processing centres.
They aren't based in a job centre.
Decison makers arn't based in jobcentres either, you also have labour market decision makers and benefit decision maker, two totally different jobs following 2 different laws.
Do you finally believe I know my job I know how the process works, hence why I get to become a manger? I am not skirting any of my responsibilites.:T

You just said it yourself - so the decision makers, and the people who process claims don't always speak to Joe Public.

Look, my only point here in this thread was that people are going to ask you questions, but you're going on as if it's the crime of the century and as if we're the ones in the wrong, your post above demonstrates how complex the system is so please stop spouting rubbish whenever someone "blames" the JC staff as a collective for mucking up a claim.

It doesn't help that we're made to ring an 0845 number so i guess that drastically increases the number of people who think it's a good idea to wait til they sign on to ask a question (and yes i'm fully aware you can use their phones, but that doesn't mean it always happens).

busy_mom_2

BeenieCat wrote: »

You just said it yourself - so the decision makers, and the people who process claims don't always speak to Joe Public.

Look, my only point here in this thread was that people are going to ask you questions, but you're going on as if it's the crime of the century and as if we're the ones in the wrong, your post above demonstrates how complex the system is so please stop spouting rubbish whenever someone "blames" the JC staff as a collective for mucking up a claim.

It doesn't help that we're made to ring an 0845 number so i guess that drastically increases the number of people who think it's a good idea to wait til they sign on to ask a question (and yes i'm fully aware you can use their phones, but that doesn't mean it always happens).

My only point was we do our job they do theirs, speak to the right people and questions will be answered and problems sorted.
By trying to expalin how the system works people might understand how to get things sorted first time, less anger aimed at the wrong people.

I am not spouting no rubbish, telling it how it is.

I can't change the system.

You get over it, I don't need to.;)

Bamber19

BeenieCat wrote: »

How about you accept that the public WILL ask you questions because YOU represent the Job Centre on a customer facing basis, and get the hell over it, instead of going into every thread moaning at how little we know, well guess what, the staff don't seem to know much either so how are we supposed to??

How about you accept that your calling the wrong people?

How about you accept that the reason "the staff don't seem to know much either" is because the staff in question have nothing to do with the queries being aimed at them.

At least in this situation the query is one for the same department, when I worked for the JCP it became apparent within a very short time that many people see it as a one stop shop for queries about anything from benefits to banking to employment law.

Emma1973

Wow..........I can see this thread imploding when the OP comes back to say he still hasnt got his Housing Benefit 10 weeks later.........:rotfl:

LilacPixie

Anyone stopped to think its maybe the OP former employer that is the problem?? at the end of the year and employer has to complete a PAYE return, there is 3 parts to this, p60, p35 and p14. the P60 goes to the employee then the p35/p14's get sent to the employers own tax office for processing. Some employers have been known to issue the p60 and just not send on some/all of the p14's/p35's not reduce their own liabilities to NIC and taxes.

Job centre staff as far as I know just remove information from a system. They are not responsible for the existance of this information

richardwhite

Right, having read all the posts I have come to the conclusion that the system is different here in Northern Ireland. For a start there is no 0845 number to phone. If I want to sign on for the first time I phone the JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE directly and they take my booking and tell me a time and date to attend. I then go to the JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE at this time and date and have my interview, sign the JSA agreement etc etc and I was told I would have 'no problem' with my claim. I then received a letter a week later from the JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE telling me I am not entitled to JSA. I then phone the JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE, which the letter tells me to do, on the same number I phoned to book my first appointment, so they can give me a 'detailed explanation' as to why I am not entitled (which they couldn't provide so I got angry). I am then asked to attend the JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE to provide my P60s. This is as far as I have got in 3 and a bit weeks and I'm still in the dark.

It seems to me the whole process takes place in one building. The job and benefits office is controlled by the government ie. the social security agency. I know these people are located in the same building as I have carried out work in the building a couple of years ago and had access throughout. The social security staff are located in offices on the top floor (2 storey building).

So, to clarify, in Northern Ireland every person involved in processing my claim are housed in one building. This is why I complained to the CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVISOR in the jobs and benefits office when I provided my P60s. Surely if the lady at my first interview could see my NI contributions on her screen and was able to tell me it would be fine I have a reason to be unhappy a week later when I get a letter telling me the complete opposite?

Bottom line is I think it will now be sorted. It's just the fact it happened in the first place that annoyed me.

Oh and by the way I worked for an english based nationwide company so I very much doubt they would dodge paying NI for me. Especially when redundancys were imminent and people would be signing on.

sockpuppet

My goodness, I bet the poster wishes he had never asked the question!!!

The problem is (we have just been all thru this with Mortgage Interest relief) is that you have contact centre - who we rang on a daily basis - you get a call handler who:
Can't answer your question
Can't look at the case
Can't put you through to anyone who can look at the case
Doesnt actually know anything about entitlements

Who takes your number, but no-one calls back. People just get so frustrated (I was almost in tears & being threatened with repossession) so you go the jobcentre, just to try to talk face to face with a human being.

We had to get our MP in the end to email the manager of the processing centre - our claim was sorted within 3 days.
I'm not saying its the jobcentre plus staffs fault - but people dont know where else to turn.

oldmotherreilly

And a lot of JCP employees find this incredibly frustrating as well, sockpuppet, as JCP are no longer allowed to use direct telephone numbers to talk to the people they know could resolve the issue . Only when a manager decides that they will 'escalate' the problem, can they (ie only the manager or acting manager) phone a direct telephone number. Other than this, JCP employees have to phone the same 0845 number that customers do; sit in the queue or be told that BDC (Benefits Delivery Centre) cannot take the call at the moment and, in all honesty, they do not have the time to do this. JCP also only gets through to the telephony team, who then email the relevant department.
In relation to the original post-the information on national insurance records is downloaded by the computer. If you have proof that the figures downloaded are incorrect (ie you have the P60s for the relevant income tax years) then, as previously stated, you can either send P60s to the BDC (but they generally want to see the originals and you may not want to entrust these documents to other people) or you can take the P60s to JCP, who will annotate the photocopies to say they have seen the originals and send these copies to the relevant department at BDC, who will update the computer records accordingly. Regardless of who made the error, the OP needs to have the issue resolved and so needs the P60s to get to the right people asap. Also, they will backdate any benefit s/he is due to the beginning of the claim if it is found that s/he is indeed entitled to JSA(C).
And so yes, all JCP staff understand the frustration that occurs when customers cannot get through to the correct department as they experience the exact same frustration. It would be so much easier if JCP could resolve issues there and then but staff in JCPs are no longer benefit trained. Once upon a time, in the days of Unemployment Benefit, JCP staff were benefit trained but this system was changed to improve it.............

valleysvc

dugdale : After being assured on three seperate occasions that my tax rebate was being looked at and would be with me shortly the job centre processing office then informed me I had not handed in a P45 (I had) so therefore would receive nothing. If I sent a copy to them it would then have taken them up to another 4 weeks to sort out so I told them how incompetent I thought they were and sorted it with the tax office myself and receive a refund within 10 days , this was at the begining of June.


In July I signed off by phone as I was going abroad for a week and on my return when trying to sign back on was told that I hadn't signed off !

In my experience there are plenty of incompetent air heads working for the benefits agency !

Rant over.