Benefits shake-up: warning for non-working claimants

MCGONIS

Hello. I have joined this a bit late. I for one am so glad this Universal Credit is being brought in. I work in a Social Security Office. I work on a telephone line taking calls from people in a crisis. I maybe take around 20 calls a day. More than half are from people who have received a fortnightly benefit payment who state "I took my money out the bank, put it in my pocket and by the time I got home it was all missing" So they get a loan. Except a few weeks later, they get a payment of benefit and this time "all my money was taken in bank charges" and they get another loan and I could go on and on. The Social Fund is a disgrace now. The Universal Credit will end Social Fund as we know it - local Authorities will eventually deal with descretionary payments that are beyond benefit payments once this Universal Credit comes in. I cannot wait. Whilst Social Fund exists, there is no incentive for people to work as their benefit payments are topped up time after time. As a staff member we get 2 weekly checks by a manager on random cases we have dealt with. If I feel the person is not being honest and refuse the loan, the manager will fail my quality check more often than not. Then I will will get action taken against me. All my calls are recorded. If I don't follow a script, then I fail. It doesn't matter if I am speaking to a 20 year old who is drunk in a room full of his friends and he is being mouthy and has me on loudspeeker claiming for the tenth fortnight in a row that he has no money for some reason or another. If I do not ask every question on the form, then again I will fail and will be a wee bit nearer to them getting rid of me. I have to laugh where I read comments about civil servants having an easy life. I do not get even one second betwen calls from 8.30 until 4.00pm. It's difficult not to be bitter when I am forced to give a better service more often than not to people that do not deserve it. They get a better service than I get from my bank/insurance company/credit card company/power company -anyone I deal with. What incentive is that to work when they are wrapped up in cotton wool. The outside world - the reality -must be a scary place to them. The government has created a monster! They will have one hell of a job trying to reverse this.

Oopsadaisy

dmg24 wrote: »

Completely OT - why has Gemstar30 been PPRed, what have I missed?

MSE is now a massive brand with massive profits.

Just like any of the firms that MSE helps you take consumer revenge on the brand and profits need to be protected.

As such anything that could affect this brand value is stomped on very quickly.

I'm guessing that's what happened to Gemstar30...their 'extreme' views/comments didn't fit what was acceptable on MSE and so after due warning they were PRR'ed.


BTW 1 - what does PRR actually mean?
BTW 2 - MSE is set up in the form of a 'private limited something or other' [not a ltd co or a PLC], which means that unlike M&S, Tesco etc...you can't access the accounts or see the profit that it's making.
BTW 3 - I'm not anti-MSE, I just don't want people to be confused or think it's a 'not-for-profit' organisation.

laurenjs88

Completly late to join the thread but in my limited and nieve view on things, I dont understand why someone can roll out of school at 16 and onto JSA?

I'd personally cut the cost by not allowind anyone under 20 claim JSA - unless they have lost a full time job by no fault of their own.
Not sure how much money it would save but there we go!

Broken_hearted

Which would be fine for those with supportive families. Children leaving the care system have no choice and less chance of getting work in the first place.

cit_k

dmg24 wrote: »

Completely OT - why has Gemstar30 been PPRed, what have I missed?

No idea, checked google cache for deleted threads, cant see anything obvious.

cit_k

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

BTW 1 - what does PRR actually mean?

Posting Priveligdes Removed

shikoku

MCGONIS wrote: »

Hello. I have joined this a bit late. I for one am so glad this Universal Credit is being brought in. I work in a Social Security Office. I work on a telephone line taking calls from people in a crisis. I maybe take around 20 calls a day. More than half are from people who have received a fortnightly benefit payment who state "I took my money out the bank, put it in my pocket and by the time I got home it was all missing" So they get a loan. Except a few weeks later, they get a payment of benefit and this time "all my money was taken in bank charges" and they get another loan and I could go on and on. The Social Fund is a disgrace now. The Universal Credit will end Social Fund as we know it - local Authorities will eventually deal with descretionary payments that are beyond benefit payments once this Universal Credit comes in. I cannot wait. Whilst Social Fund exists, there is no incentive for people to work as their benefit payments are topped up time after time. As a staff member we get 2 weekly checks by a manager on random cases we have dealt with. If I feel the person is not being honest and refuse the loan, the manager will fail my quality check more often than not. Then I will will get action taken against me. All my calls are recorded. If I don't follow a script, then I fail. It doesn't matter if I am speaking to a 20 year old who is drunk in a room full of his friends and he is being mouthy and has me on loudspeeker claiming for the tenth fortnight in a row that he has no money for some reason or another. If I do not ask every question on the form, then again I will fail and will be a wee bit nearer to them getting rid of me. I have to laugh where I read comments about civil servants having an easy life. I do not get even one second betwen calls from 8.30 until 4.00pm. It's difficult not to be bitter when I am forced to give a better service more often than not to people that do not deserve it. They get a better service than I get from my bank/insurance company/credit card company/power company -anyone I deal with. What incentive is that to work when they are wrapped up in cotton wool. The outside world - the reality -must be a scary place to them. The government has created a monster! They will have one hell of a job trying to reverse this.

Are you saying everyone who speaks to you is, in your opinion, a liar?

No wonder you are the subject of close monitoring.

oldestrocker

KxMx wrote: »

How about the Government creating jobs, that will cut the JSA bill and raise revenue. But no, they're sacking thousands of civil servants and are not allowed to stop EU immigration!

errrr no they are not! PM questions yesterday, the PM stated that through the excellent work carried out so far to rid the state of Welfare claimants, it is now possible to halt the action of making 495,000 Civil Servants redundant as there is enough money saved to secure their continued employment.

See, we are a generous lot in this country, where else would you find the ordinary man in the street willing to accept the loss/reduction of his benefits to make sure that the Civil Servants are kept in a job?

Or maybe the threat of strike action spurred the Government on to find that little bit extra to pay their wages and pension contributions for at least the next 5 years!

Yes but those 3 strikes involve loss of all money for a period of time with no right of appeal and few hardship funds.

But you have to have sympathy with the Government on this one. No one is going to go to work for less money in their hand than they can claim in benefits are they?

So, the answer is - remove the benefits!!! Simplees!

Raquela

actually I'm doing this for the next few days. I have managed to get three days temp work, two days this week and one day next week. My benefits will be reduced by what I earn less £5. But it will cost me more than £5 to travel to the workplace, so in effect it will cost me to go to work. But, it's better than sitting at home.

I sometimes despair of ever finding a permanent (or permanent-ish job). I suffer from pretty severe anxiety, but can work some jobs, so would never try and claim ESA. But it worries me greatly, that the new regime would make me apply for jobs that would be unsuitable, and I would have to accept them or lose my benefit, and then likely make my health worse or get kicked out of the unsuitable job. It also seems that some people can't comprehend how you wouldn't take a minimum wage job - if I did take a minimum wage job, it would have to be walking distance, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford to travel to it. I live alone, on a very very tight budget. I can't survive on benefits and have been gradually selling my possessions to make up the difference each month, as I don't want to fall into arrears with my gas or electric. There is literally no wiggle room in my budget, I'm close to bankruptcy as it is, I fail to see how I could possibly accept a job at minimum wage.

Of course it's rather a moot point; apparently going to university and getting a degree has rendered me completely unemployable - I actually got an interview for a job recently (first in ages), and was turned down because they felt the position was beneath me after meeting me.

Sorry for the rant. Despite what I've said, I do think something has to be done about the benefits for life types - sadly I see a lot of them on my fortnightly sign ons, and it does grate.

MCGONIS

shikoku wrote: »

Are you saying everyone who speaks to you is, in your opinion, a liar?

No wonder you are the subject of close monitoring.

Hello. I was having a bit of a rant eh?

No I don't think everyone who speaks to me is a liar. I do sometimes wonder why when I am on the bus or walking along the street, I don't ever find all these bundles of "lost" banknotes though!

I do feel sorry for the people who cannot get through to speak to us as the lines are so busy. People that have a genuine need for the money as they have no income.

The point I was really hoping to make was, pay the Universal Credit at a decent rate and scrap loans!

Bye for now.