MSE News: Universal credit helpline charges to be scrapped

Ames

footyguy wrote: »

Up to 55p a minute? :huh:
I understood it's currently a 0345 number.

You can make a 30 min call for just 60p from a BT payphone to such a number, and if you need even longer, it will cost an extra 10p for each additional 15 mins or part thereof.

Or are people using their iPhone to call the benefit helpline? :cool:

Iphones tend to be on contracts, so it would be free to call the helpline.

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trigger_fish

Its the fact that often you can be on hold for a long time.

2 weeks ago for me with HMRC 25 minutes.

Ian011

The 55p per minute figure is the maximum charge that can be incurred on the worst phone deal available on the market. This rate is incurred by Vodafone contract customers if they have used up all of their inclusive allowance and then carry on making more calls.

Most calls to landline numbers, 03 numbers and mobile numbers are made as part of an inclusive calls allowance and incur no further call charge. By swapping to a free-to-caller number, in future DWP will be paying the caller's phone provider up to 8p per minute for all of those calls. This represents a bonanza for phone companies at the expense of taxpayers.

There are good reasons why calls about new claims, to book appointments or to chase up missing or incorrect payments should be on numbers that are free-to-caller. This does not mean that all public services should adopt them.

annandale

People have to have access to Internet to jobsearch. Why shouldn't they have a mobile phone? The last iPhone I had cost me 16.99 per month on a contract . Far better off with a cheap mobile contract than being on a payg and racking up a fortune in calls.

I have spent around 40 hours on the phone to the universal credit helpline in the last six months. Not everyone has payphones near them. They are being removed from a lot of areas.

At the top of this page there is a notice to remind people that they come on here for support. Not for digs about whether people have an iPhone or any other phone.

And some people will have taken out a contract phone when they were or are working. Universal credit is an in work benefit.

These forums seem to be full of people making digs about people on benefits with all the solutions attached as well.

normandeguerre

Annandale is spot on here. Universal Credit is a disgraceful attack on the ordinary folk of this country and has been an utter nightmare for many, many people. Anybody who has followed this nastiness for the last few years will know this already. Only now, with it's increased roll-out, will many more now find out what a miserable world our "elite" wish us to occupy. Will this be the last straw?

By the way, the poorer one is, the less likely one is able to stump up for the extortionate land-line fees charged by the likes of BT. It has long made more sense for many to get by on a mobile (even intermittently) than being cut off by BT and facing reconnection fees. So please, lay off the "well, if they can afford mobiles..." malarkey.

Ian011

The fact that millions of people now incorrectly believe that non-geographic 03 numbers are premium rate calls and remain completely unaware that pay-as-you-go deals offer unlimited calls for around £15 is worrying. Ofcom has worked hard to simplify things, but awareness of how things work is disturbingly low and seemingly getting worse.

The headline that this is a 55p per minute number is false. The implication that DWP charges callers is completely false. The call charges are set by the caller's provider and are exactly the same as for for calling 01 and 02 numbers. The caller's phone provider retains the revenue if there is any. The usual way to call these numbers is by using an inclusive allowance.

epitome

Ian011 wrote: »

The call charges are set by the caller's provider and are exactly the same as for for calling 01 and 02 numbers. .

That's what they used to say when it was 0845.... but I am sure that for example

Virgin Media charge more for an 0845 than they do for an 01 or 02

I haven't checked what Virgin charge for 0345 compared to 01 or 02 but I will.....

Ian011

Ofcom regulations in place since 2007 ensure that calls to 03 numbers are always charged at the same rate as calls to UK 01 and 02 numbers. If the caller has inclusive calls to 01 and 02 numbers, the allowance will also cover calls to 03 numbers. In most cases inclusive allowances also cover calls to 071-075 and 077-079 numbers.

All 084, 087 and 09 numbers are premium rate with an Access Charge and a Service Charge. The premium is the additional Service Charge. Ofcom's reforms effective 1 July 2015 clarified these call charges for all to see and especially made clear that the Access Charge is set by the caller's phone provider and the Service Charge is set by the called party and their telecoms provider. Usage of these numbers is banned for customer services, financial services and public services.

HMRC changed their premium rate 0845 and 0870 lines over to inclusive 0300 and 0345 numbers in several batches between April and October 2013. DWP changed their premium rate 0845 lines over to inclusive 0345 numbers on 17 March 2014.

DWP already has free-to-caller 0800 numbers for new claims, one such number for each benefit - except for UC. Every benefit, including UC, has an 0345 helpline for existing claimants. As UC is claimed online there is no 0800 number for new claims. Given the amount of problems claimants face, this was clearly an error and is now being righted.

However, DWP is also extending this so that all of their numbers will change to free-to-caller 0800 numbers with DWP picking up the call charges for every single call made to DWP. This is going to cost DWP a huge sum. In most cases they will be paying for calls made by people who could have called an 03 number using their inclusive allowance.

davidgmmafan

I agree that the telephone charges are the least of universal credits problems. However the fact this has blown up and caused the government to take action it belies how utterly clueless the politicians in charge of this are.

The sole reason for creating universal credit was to reduce the cliff edge people face when they come off benefits and start work. Thanks to Osborne messing around with the taper rates this has been watered down.

I've no idea what people are supposed to live on for six weeks (maybe they want people to die, I am only half joking) and I have no idea how some people are supposed to budget/save - those on zero hours contracts or with unreliable hours.

The fact they believe an advance somehows resolves these issues and the whole system is setup to leave people trapped in debt shows a very blinkered approach to this. When even your own MP's are pointing out problems and asking you to reconsider you really should do so. Unless of course you are infallible...

Perhaps the money from the phone lines could be better spent on reducing the wait time? Or ensuring people keep more of the money they earn (again this was the whole point of the scheme)?

So far the people using this have been those who are young with relatively straight forward claims. I've no idea what older folk or those without computer skills are supposed to do, or how the system will work (or not) when people don't fit neatly into boxes.

Never have I seen such a head in the sand approach...

footyguy

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

What's the longest anyone's had to wait on the line? Has anyone had to wait more than an hour?

Apparently, the average waiting time is 2 minutes and 1 second.
There is a callback option too
(which presumably explains the low average waiting time)