Universal Credit - a view from within the DWP

annandale

If there is no face to face contact what was the purpose of training up all the Work Coaches at JC's for UC claimants?

I see a work coach every 2 weeks, but the work coaches don't deal with any of the issues that arise if you have a problem with a payment.

Mersey_2

They largely deal with Conditionality, ie checking whether the 35 hours' activity was adhered to and recorded - not the calculation or date of payments of UC.


Indeed JCP staff cannot even view the system the UC national contact centres use or close a UC claim (as they could with JSA).

grinchy12

Can I ask (sorry to jump on your post, it wouldnt let me post ) what happens if I have a new payroll provider? Are UC updated automatically and will I still get paid, Or do I need to give them The new payroll number and PAYE which I dont have? Would the paye ref still be the same as its the payroll provider that's changed? And also if they haven't received it do I still get UC? I apologise for jumping on your post but already had one month without any money

sammyjammy

Mersey wrote: »

The problem with UC (compared with JSA) is that they don't see any DWP staff face to face (other than handing ID docs to the JCP to copy and upload). Claimants are told to call the national UC contact centres with any queries. Those staff do receive basic training, but as the Ch4 Dispatches programme showed, the IT often fails and managers deliberately told staff not to inform claimants of their right to an advance.


Thankfully that has at last been changed this week.

Which is exactly what I was getting at, the staff you see in the Jobcentre ARE DWP staff just not staff whose job it is to have knowledge of or give advice about benefits.

Mersey_2

sammyjammy wrote: »

Which is exactly what I was getting at, the staff you see in the Jobcentre ARE DWP staff just not staff whose job it is to have knowledge of or give advice about benefits.

That's a bit unfair - though I sympathise if it's been your experience.


From helping claimants with appeals pro bono I found that in every JCP, 2 or 3 DWP staff 'on the floor' [ie not counting the manager] were well trained and had good knowledge of how JSA worked. But they tended to be those aged in their 50s (who are therefore likely to retire soon/be made redundant) and not the younger work coaches who saw claimants. In fact JCP staff are more likely to be knowledgeable re benefits than the call handlers in the UC contact centres (many of whom are newish and half their age - as tends to be the way with call centres and the DWP recruiting cheaper ie younger staff).


I realise it's now an irreversible change (from memory a further 60 JCPs are set to close before Christmas), with everything going online, but I reckon their knowledge will be missed if eg unemployment doubled in a decade's time and the IT and the limited number of remaining offices just can't cope with that inflow of claims.