What problems do you face when benefits are delayed or underpaid?

UKParliament

How do delays or errors in benefit payments affect you?

Does the Department of Work and Pensions deliver benefit and Universal Credit payments correctly and on time?

How could the Department’s performance in the delivery of benefits be monitored and improved?

These are some of the questions that the Work and Pensions Committee want to hear your thoughts on. Your experiences could influence and hold the Government to account. Share them with us and the Committee!

Find out more about the inquiry.

Stevie_Palimo

I would imagine for the poorest who rely on benefits any delay may mean not eating, baby nappies having electric or gas.


In some cases and I am not tarnishing everyone with the same brush before my post is jumped on it may mean a lack of beer and cigs.

jobbingmusician

I hope that you are asking people who work at food banks, as well as people on here, as charities such as the Trussell Trust report that the vast majority of their referrals are of people whose budgets and daily living ability have been destroyed by late or incorrect payments of benefits.

missapril75

Take a look at this thread

It should, however, be noted that this forum is pretty much operating because things haven't been going well with individual claims (people complain rather than praise), so while it's useful for the first item, a different impression to reality is possibly given for the second item.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Simple - pay the right benefits at the right time to the right people.

Podge52

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Simple - pay the right benefits at the right time to the right people.

I don't think it's quite so simple.

You will never eliminate human error. What is needed in my opinion is robust procedures for quickly dealing with errors and delays once they have been identified.

dodger1

Podge52 wrote: »

I don't think it's quite so simple.

You will never eliminate human error. What is needed in my opinion is robust procedures for quickly dealing with errors and delays once they have been identified.

And no sanctions until an appeal has been heard, unless of course the claimant doesn't wish to appeal.

Ames

I'm slightly surprised that the question has to be asked. What answers are theye expecting? Oh, I'll have to use the Prius because the Jag's just too heavy on petrol. Darn, no expensive breakfasts out for a week. Oh my, we'll have to slum it with prosecco instead of Moet. Oh, the shame of having to rely on the wife's millions instead of my income.

People are on means tested benefits because they have no means. Yes, a few will be lucky enough to have savings to tide them over for a few weeks. But for many they'll be left without money for food or utilities. Especially those who 'do the right thing' and move in and out of work as it becomes available. And this may well be happening at a time when things are incredibly difficult anyway because they'll be adjusting to a life changing event such as disability or bereavement, or are dealing with redundancy.

tkwad

a lack of income can have disastrous conbsequenses for families or single claimants. rent arrears can lead to loss of housing which can also be viewed as being done voluntarily thereby allowing the council to no longer be responsible for housing those who find themselves homeless.
Lack of decent food can lead to health conditions. No one finds healthy food cheaper than stodgy processed foods.
Lack of money to buy gas or electric can lead to hypothermia and even food spoiling
Lack of money to buy clothing...poor clothing can lead to bullying of children from their peers etc

Finding yourself reliant on benefits but those benefits not being paid on time is a horrendous experience for anyone involved. There should be measures such as emergency vouchers for electric/food/clothing....

by the same token, overpayment of benefits can be equally as debilitating dependent on how the overpayment is reclaimed. For instance tax credits overpayment having the overpayment taken back at a rate equal to one quarter (25%) of their entitlement....that could mean the difference between heating or eating...
No one wants to be reliant on benefits, but sadly with the minimum wage/zero hours/rent prices/healthy food prices etc etc more and more people find themselves needing these top ups to survive.

One point i would like to make however is with regard to tax credits....when information is received through the real time information reporting tbetween emplyers and hmrc changes can be made immediately to peoples entitlements, and this is done WITHOUT warning... this means people may suddenly find their income has dropped substantially and their direct debits may not be cleared leading to bank charges etc....this can quickly spiral out of control for not many families always have money in the bank at the end of the week....could notice not be given so people can make plans or try to budget better etc...?

pmlindyloo

dodger1 wrote: »

And no sanctions until an appeal has been heard, unless of course the claimant doesn't wish to appeal.

This isn't going to happen.

This is tax payers money that we are talking about and if the sanction is proved to be justified then there may be problems with the money being repaid. There will always be (IMHO) an onus for the claimant to prove that a mistake has been made/good reason for the sanction.. The money will then be backdated.

What is missing is the fact that there is currently no system in place that will provide money in these circumstances immediately. Hence the rise in food banks.

The ability to receive food is, in reality, the only priority that anyone in this situation needs. Any other expenditure is non priority. The questions asked when applying for any of the financial help are detailed. Help from family members is always queried.

I also agree that mistakes are made and this can be very frustrating. The DWP and other departments are no different from any other 'company'.

What I strongly advocate is the opportunity for benefit claimants to be able to get quick and accessible help for any problems.

Contact from your MP usually produces incredibly quick results. CAB also has tremendous success in sorting things out. This is, I believe, because these people carry some 'weight' when dealing with benefits departments. Contact from an MP/CAB/welfare advisors are usually passed to someone far senior than the front line staff who often are inadequately trained to deal with anything that requires more than 'pushing a key on a computer screen'.

The sad thing is that many councils are now doing away with face to face help because of costs. if this becomes more prevalent nationwide then things will only get worse, especially for vulnerable people who need that face to face support.

I am unsure why this post has been put here. There is so much statistical information out there from individual complainants through their MP/CAB/welfare advisor to the administrators of food banks etc etc etc.

It does not take a super brain to work out how to improve services - more staff/better trained staff/computer systems that work/more face to face help..... I could go on.

I fear this is just another face saving exercise so that the public feel involved and we are 'all in this together'.

UKParliament

Hi pmlindyloo

I am unsure why this post has been put here. There is so much statistical information out there from individual complainants through their MP/CAB/welfare advisor to the administrators of food banks etc etc etc.

It does not take a super brain to work out how to improve services - more staff/better trained staff/computer systems that work/more face to face help..... I could go on.

I fear this is just another face saving exercise so that the public feel involved and we are 'all in this together'.

Thanks for your comments!

You are right there is a lot of information out there already and the Committee will be taking a look at this as well. However, the thoughts and experiences from people who are affected by this can make all the difference to an inquiry and the questions that the Committee members will ask the Government.

The public can provide the most up-to-date first hand evidence and this is what is needed to make sure that the outcome of this inquiry is as valuable as possible.

The Committee Office have made a video which sums this up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On6OJLRvm5g