Can anyone help, where to complain about a Job Centre staff member?

dmg24

shikoku wrote: »

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Especially in the context of the job centre where any reaction other than compliance or tears may be interpreted as aggression.

The urge is to just get away, calm down, and then set about dealing with it. (Yes I have been there myself)

Anyone who has had dealings with them will be able to relate to the situation the OP found herself in.

Revenge? I think you need to get some perspective. The OP should also be aware that they will never find out what happens about their complaint, the most they will get is a standard letter of apology.

shikoku

'Revenge? I think you need to get some perspective.'

It's a quote from Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) a French epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos.

Surely you have heard it before?

dmg24

shikoku wrote: »

It's a quote.

So is Don't burn down the whole house just to kill a mouse. Perhaps more relevant here, considering that the OP still has to deal with the JCP and relies on them for money.

(I take it you just looked up the last bit of your post? )

shikoku

I think the OP will be fine.

dmg24

shikoku wrote: »

I think the OP will be fine.

That will be much comfort to them when they have to visit the JCP again for WFIs.

tts42010

She can't help you having to wait but the personal remarks were not needed. Just because you rely on them for money doesn't give anybody the right to make snide personal comments.

MCGONIS

starlite wrote: »

Yes it was my third application in a year, the first being when I left my violent ex husband, the second being whilst waiting on my new tax credit claim, and this, now I have moved from income support to ESA and have had no money for almost 4 weeks now.

The advisor read a court order attached to my solicitors letter which I provided as proof of address without my permission. The contents of the court order were entirely irrelevant to my claim for a crisis loan as a single person. She went on to make very cutting personal remarks, and was quite happy to force me, as a person suffering from severe depression and panic attacks, to leave the offices in tears and spend two hours, penniless, in the rain in the town centre awaiting the decision.

Hello. That is not good service you have received to be honest. I work for the Social Security in an office that deals with Crisis Loan applications. It is now the case that "the law" states you must attend an office for an interview if you have had 2 or more applications in a 12 month period. However, this does not apply if the reason you need assistance is because you are waiting on decision on a new claim to benefit. From what you have said about your previous loan applications, I personally would say the interview at a Jobcentre was not appropriate this time.

However, the operators on the telephone line have been set targets by DWP to deal with calls in 17 minutes. Therefore they are under pressure to make each call as short as possible. A Crisis Loan call averages 30 minutes. So get get within this target, they need quite a few short calls each day so that overall the calls do average 17 minutes. It's a disgraceful way to treat the staff who answer the telephone and more importantly the people who need the loan.

Also, the person at the Jobcentre should basically complete an application with you and then let a Social Fund Officer decide on the loan.

It is part of the job that the officer who interviews you gets all the facts first time to save the application being returned for more questions to be asked. Sometimes, it does involve lots of questions and going over what has caused the crisis in detail. There is no need for the officer to be rude or make you feel the way you were after the interview.

You can make a complaint in person, via any DWP telephone line or in writing. Whoever receives the complaint will pass this on to their manager and it will get to the correct person from there.

I hope that helps you a bit and good luck with everything. Bye for now.

cit_k

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

From an outsiders point of view, and from someone not having fallen on the wrong side of this issue, surely the correct time and place to complain is there and then???. Why wait and subconsiousley accept what ever has offended you.

Again sorry if it's too late, but if it offends then it offends, dig in straight away.:mad:

Your more likely to end up escorted out of the premises by security, and being marked on file as potentially violent.

dreamylittledream

MCGONIS wrote: »

Hello. That is not good service you have received to be honest. I work for the Social Security in an office that deals with Crisis Loan applications. It is now the case that "the law" states you must attend an office for an interview if you have had 2 or more applications in a 12 month period. However, this does not apply if the reason you need assistance is because you are waiting on decision on a new claim to benefit. From what you have said about your previous loan applications, I personally would say the interview at a Jobcentre was not appropriate this time.

However, the operators on the telephone line have been set targets by DWP to deal with calls in 17 minutes. Therefore they are under pressure to make each call as short as possible. A Crisis Loan call averages 30 minutes. So get get within this target, they need quite a few short calls each day so that overall the calls do average 17 minutes. It's a disgraceful way to treat the staff who answer the telephone and more importantly the people who need the loan.

Also, the person at the Jobcentre should basically complete an application with you and then let a Social Fund Officer decide on the loan.

It is part of the job that the officer who interviews you gets all the facts first time to save the application being returned for more questions to be asked. Sometimes, it does involve lots of questions and going over what has caused the crisis in detail. There is no need for the officer to be rude or make you feel the way you were after the interview.

You can make a complaint in person, via any DWP telephone line or in writing. Whoever receives the complaint will pass this on to their manager and it will get to the correct person from there.

I hope that helps you a bit and good luck with everything. Bye for now.

Fair bit of yes and no in this. OP has intimated that she receives Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit. If she had received these and spent them perhaps not on the most basic essentials of life (which is all crisis loans cover afterall) but other perhaps less immediate needs then it would not be unreasonable to deem the application a spent and not an alignment to a new benefit claim. Therefore a 3rd application interview would be appropriate.

The Social Fund officer in the jobcentre completes an interview not just an application - they are meant to perform an inquisitorial role and voice any doubts they have in the evidence provided and question any inconsistancies (for example just how many times is it possible to lose your wallet and all your money between the cashpoint and a checkout in the space of six months?). This is to allow the decision maker to just impartially assess the evidence and come to a conclusion.

There is a difficult line to draw with crisis loans - the whole 3rd application system was introduced to help reduce spurious applications which have clogged the system and made it much harder to help those genuinley in need. Robust interviewing is part of this although that is no excuse for being plain rude to someone who is clearly in a crisis.

As a side note guidance says the customer should wait in the jobcentre until the decision is made and this should take no longer than 30 minutes. Many offices however it should be said struggle a little with this *cough*.

3rd applications are booked inappropriatly by some call centre staff and it is quite possible that the 17 minute call time target has an impact on this, but it does not happen nearly as much as you are intimating. Probably roughly a third of calls require a 3rd application interview anyway (back to the main problem with crisis loans here) and that combined with inappropriate queries and calls that are never going to result in a successful application (such as those from people who have a sanctioned JSA claim or have already had a crisis loan award for the period in question) mean that whilst a full application does indeed take 30mins plus the average call taken by an agent is never going to be this.

Not that I agree that 17 mins is a useful figure for targeting staff with here - just stating the facts around this.

Back to the OP's original point, the main reason for complaint I can see here is inappropriate personal remarks made by the interviewing officer. If you feel these were out of order then you should complain as my quoted friend has stated - preferably in writing. The complaint would be best directed to the manager of the jobcentre you visited as it would appear to be against one of his or her staff.

MCGONIS

dreamylittledream wrote: »

Fair bit of yes and no in this. OP has intimated that she receives Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit. If she had received these and spent them perhaps not on the most basic essentials of life (which is all crisis loans cover afterall) but other perhaps less immediate needs then it would not be unreasonable to deem the application a spent and not an alignment to a new benefit claim. Therefore a 3rd application interview would be appropriate.

The Social Fund officer in the jobcentre completes an interview not just an application - they are meant to perform an inquisitorial role and voice any doubts they have in the evidence provided and question any inconsistancies (for example just how many times is it possible to lose your wallet and all your money between the cashpoint and a checkout in the space of six months?). This is to allow the decision maker to just impartially assess the evidence and come to a conclusion.

There is a difficult line to draw with crisis loans - the whole 3rd application system was introduced to help reduce spurious applications which have clogged the system and made it much harder to help those genuinley in need. Robust interviewing is part of this although that is no excuse for being plain rude to someone who is clearly in a crisis.

As a side note guidance says the customer should wait in the jobcentre until the decision is made and this should take no longer than 30 minutes. Many offices however it should be said struggle a little with this *cough*.

3rd applications are booked inappropriatly by some call centre staff and it is quite possible that the 17 minute call time target has an impact on this, but it does not happen nearly as much as you are intimating. Probably roughly a third of calls require a 3rd application interview anyway (back to the main problem with crisis loans here) and that combined with inappropriate queries and calls that are never going to result in a successful application (such as those from people who have a sanctioned JSA claim or have already had a crisis loan award for the period in question) mean that whilst a full application does indeed take 30mins plus the average call taken by an agent is never going to be this.

Not that I agree that 17 mins is a useful figure for targeting staff with here - just stating the facts around this.

Back to the OP's original point, the main reason for complaint I can see here is inappropriate personal remarks made by the interviewing officer. If you feel these were out of order then you should complain as my quoted friend has stated - preferably in writing. The complaint would be best directed to the manager of the jobcentre you visited as it would appear to be against one of his or her staff.

The OP has not said he/she received Child Tax Credits or Child Benefit anywhere on this thread. He/she does mention Tax Credits though. Don't make assuptions that he/she has children or that any income was mis-spent. Tax Credits, as you will well know are also paid to individuals without children. The OP has stated the interview was arranged because they have no income whilst waiting on benefit coming through. Moving from Income Support to ESA was what was mentioned. If that is not a new claim to a benefit, then I don't know what is.

In addition, there are no Social Fund Officers in Jobcentres. There are officers that conduct interviews with applicants that have been sent there by an operator from the telephone centre. The staff in the jobcentre are not Social Fund Officers.

I could go on and on and nit pick more things about your post, but cannot be bothered to be honest.

But just one last thing to finish off, I am not your "friend". So don't refer to me as that again.