Social Fund/Crisis loans

Eskarin

Hi, wondering if anyone may have a suggestion or two that could help me,

I have recently come off benefits (JSA only for 5 months) to return to work, I had concerns over covering my bills/petrol costs for my first month as I won't be paid till after Christmas, I recieved a letters from the JSA stating

"If you are not going to get any money at the end of youre first week's work, you can apply for money from the social fund until you get your first earnings."

I thought "great, I'll give it a try", however after spending 45mins waiting for an answer on my first attempt I was disconnected rather suddenly, i called back to find that their opening hours were 0800-1800 Mon-Fri, not great when i'm working 0830-1700 Mon-Fri and normally have to sit in 45mins of traffic to get home.
I finally got through to them on my second day's attempt, after a further 20mins waiting, I was told i had the wrong number and was given an 0800 number to call. I did this spent a further 5 mins waiting only to be told that the call centre was closing shortly and they would be unable to process an application (This was a Friday).
So Monday morning I tried again at 8am, spent 28mins with no answer before starting work, tried again in my lunch break, spending 48mins waiting before I needed to go back to work. Thankfully after work I had a little luck, I finished early and managed to get home by 1720 got through after 10mins and began discussing the crisis loan, I need it to cover food/petrol/bills, I was told that they would not be able to cover petrol and bills and as I was ok for food atm, I was advised to wait until I was struggling to claim, or face a high chance of rejection.
I was also told that to claim for petrol and bills to ring the 0800 number again and enquire about budgeting loans, so I did.
Only to be told that I was not eligible as I was no longer claiming benefits, and that i should contact crisis loans regarding bills but would not recieve money for petrol as it was not considered a necessity, I asked about bus fare in that case as that would be my only alternative, rather than answer my question, I was told that I should contact the crisis loans again.
This is when I started getting annoyed.
I asked the call-centre agent if she could explain why crisis loans advised me to come through to budgeting loans regarding bills and petrol if 1. I was ineligable as I am no longer on benefits and 2. Crisis loans handled applications toward bill payments.
I was then told, "just defer them, it'll be easier anyway"
and then 3 times it was repeated to me that crisis loans had held up the application as it wouldn't be accepted.
When I enquired about an address to write a formal complaint I was given an address for Inverness benefits centre, after the agent tried to arrange a call-back later in the week to give me the address and leaving me on hold for 10mins when I refused. (If someone could confirm this is correct given that I live in Wales and was under the impression that Wrexham was the benefits centre for my area).

At this point though I still have serious concerns over my finances for the current month, I'm more frustrated with the abysmal service, as well as the attitude I recieved.
I want to write the letter of complaint but 1. I want to double check that address as I have my doubts, and 2. Am wondering given the shambles of an organisation that DWP already is, is it worth my time and effort?

Apologies for the long post, and thanks in advance to any advice/suggestions offered.

tomjonesrules

No, it is not worth your time and effort. Spend you time selling a few things on ebay to see you through, even if you were eligible for a BL it probably would not come through before payday, and the chances of getting a CL if you have any money at all are minimal.