Budgeting loans and arrogant DWP advisors!

murtle1981

Ill try to keep this as short as poss...
Been having problems with our house (bathroom) council have tried to recify it but hasn't stopped completely. Only way to stop it is to alter it (remove shower and replace with bath) council wont do it-weve been granted permission to alter it but got to pay for it ourselves and do work ourselves. Tried to appeal against this but not a prayer. They have also only given us permission for 3 months-after that we have to apply for permission again and may not get permission granted again. Didn't know that DWP still did Budgeting loans until beginning of last month so applied and got awarded max i could have (800). Sent acceptance letter over a week ago (took 3 weeks to get it) and our 3 month permission is nearly over. So rang social fund yesterday to see where theyre at with it and the arrogant sod wouldn't even access the system. He wouldn't take my details and just laughed at me when i asked him to. I tried to explain the situation to him but just said ring next week if moneys not in your account. For all i know the acceptance forms could have been lost in the post. Should i ring them back and ask them again (hoping that i get to speak to someone nicer?) my landing carpet is sodden cos of leaking, my kitchen needs re decorating AGAIN cos of water coming through ceiling...im fed up and cant leave things as they are for much longer

ilikewatch

As regards your original query, yes I would just phone again, ask a different advisor, and if they won't help ask why - there could be a good reason that they can't tell you which wasn't explained on the initial call.

On a different note, I can't figure out what grounds the council would have for refusing to fix what appears to be a serious fault with one of their properties? I thought that tenants were only expected to pay for non-necessary were or upgrades?

Morglin

murtle1981 wrote: »

Ill try to keep this as short as poss...
Been having problems with our house (bathroom) council have tried to recify it but hasn't stopped completely. Only way to stop it is to alter it (remove shower and replace with bath) council wont do it-weve been granted permission to alter it but got to pay for it ourselves and do work ourselves. Tried to appeal against this but not a prayer. They have also only given us permission for 3 months-after that we have to apply for permission again and may not get permission granted again. Didn't know that DWP still did Budgeting loans until beginning of last month so applied and got awarded max i could have (800). Sent acceptance letter over a week ago (took 3 weeks to get it) and our 3 month permission is nearly over. So rang social fund yesterday to see where theyre at with it and the arrogant sod wouldn't even access the system. He wouldn't take my details and just laughed at me when i asked him to. I tried to explain the situation to him but just said ring next week if moneys not in your account. For all i know the acceptance forms could have been lost in the post. Should i ring them back and ask them again (hoping that i get to speak to someone nicer?) my landing carpet is sodden cos of leaking, my kitchen needs re decorating AGAIN cos of water coming through ceiling...im fed up and cant leave things as they are for much longer

As regards the DWP advisor, he needs reminding he is a public servant, and the best way to remind him is to make a FORMAL complaint:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

As for the council, take it up with your housing manager, or the Head of Housing at your council - they should be sorting this out!

The CAB should be able to advise:

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

Lin