Why does it take the job centre ages to answer

preable

My son has been sat with me on hold to the job centre trying to enquire about a budgeting loan it’s been 59 mins and still no answer!

Do they ever answer because it’s actually beyond a joke and they close in 35 mins!!!

We don’t want to hang up and try again as we probs will be on hold for another hour but how in this day and age does it take over an hour to speak to someone!

poppy12345

preable wrote: »

My son has been sat with me on hold to the job centre trying to enquire about a budgeting loan it’s been 59 mins and still no answer!

Do they ever answer because it’s actually beyond a joke and they close in 35 mins!!!

We don’t want to hang up and try again as we probs will be on hold for another hour but how in this day and age does it take over an hour to speak to someone!

Most likely because you're not the only person trying to ring and waiting in the queue.



When did you apply for the loan?

preable

My son applied about 3 and a half weeks ago and yes I know other people are calling but we have been waiting to get through since 20 past 4 it’s now 17:43 that’s not a reasonable time and I’m pretty sure we won’t get an answer by 6pm when they close

custardy

preable wrote: »

We don’t want to hang up and try again as we probs will be on hold for another hour but how in this day and age does it take over an hour to speak to someone!

X amount of call handlers vs X amounts of callers.
Basically

NeilCr

Might also have to something to do with cuts in DWP staffing.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dwp-staff-cuts-universal-credit-pip-benefits-a8988816.html

poppy12345

preable wrote: »

My son applied about 3 and a half weeks ago and yes I know other people are calling but we have been waiting to get through since 20 past 4 it’s now 17:43 that’s not a reasonable time and I’m pretty sure we won’t get an answer by 6pm when they close

The last time i applied for a budgeting loan it took almost 5 weeks to have the money paid into my bank from when i first applied online. Has he received the acceptance letter to sign yet? If he has then it can take 3 weeks after that.

elsien

I always allow a minimum of 45 minutes. Any quicker is a bonus.

preable

poppy12345 wrote: »

The last time i applied for a budgeting loan it took almost 5 weeks to have the money paid into my bank from when i first applied online. Has he received the acceptance letter to sign yet? If he has then it can take 3 weeks after that.

No letter only thing he has had is a message from dwp saying that they received his application.

We are About to give up and try bang on 8am on Monday and see what happens then.

donnajunkie

preable wrote: »

My son has been sat with me on hold to the job centre trying to enquire about a budgeting loan it’s been 59 mins and still no answer!

Do they ever answer because it’s actually beyond a joke and they close in 35 mins!!!

We don’t want to hang up and try again as we probs will be on hold for another hour but how in this day and age does it take over an hour to speak to someone!

Its easy to be cynical and think its on purpose and that may well be the case. However we dont know for sure. It could just be a case of them being understaffed.
I do sympathise having experienced it myself and in the days when the call wasn't free.

Robbie64

One of the offices that dealt with Social Fund Budgeting Loans (Wembley) closed late last year and since then there seems to have been numerous issues around the length of time it takes to receive the offer letter then to receive the payment along with the length of time it takes to get through on the phone.


Up to late last year there were only three offices that dealt with Budgeting Loans (Wembley, Chesterfield and Birmingham) so unless the work that was done by Wembley (which dealt with applications for Scotland and large parts of the north of England) has been moved to a replacement office it's likely this work has simply been moved to the other two existing centres. Add in possible staffing cuts and the result is predictable chaos.

TELLIT01

donnajunkie wrote: »

Its easy to be cynical and think its on purpose and that may well be the case. However we dont know for sure. It could just be a case of them being understaffed.
I do sympathise having experienced it myself and in the days when the call wasn't free.

It may be 'on purpose' by the government and/or senior DWP management, but it won't be done deliberately by DWP front line staff. All they get is abuse for taking so long to answer.