Delays to State Pension for Newbies

xylophone

Are DWP civil servants able to work effectively from home? For all we know, they are,

But we don't know.

 Nevertheless, your statment:
xylophone said:
And I can see no excuse whatsoever for DWP staff to remain working from home if this arrangement is contributing to the chaos.
... relates to (1) and there doesn't seem to be evidence to support it.

I'm sorry?

And I can see no excuse whatsoever for DWP staff to remain working from home IF this arrangement is contributing to the chaos.

Have you actually read and understood my statement?

xylophone

As awful as these stories are, the system doesn't appear to be totally broken - a friend who reached SPA in September received her first payment just a week or so after her birthday.  Perhaps it's a regional thing?  Perhaps only those with problems are contacting the media, and those who have been paid on time are the silent majority?

But it doesn't change the fact that even if it's a minority, the people in that minority are receiving a truly appalling level of service.

The assessor wanted to know why she couldn't sleep through her dialysis sessions, leaving her free to stack supermarket shelves overnight.

One has to wonder whether these  assessors have any common sense at all - mind you, my mother used to say "Where there's no sense there's no feeling" - never a truer word?

xylophone

I would be seething if MrsT's had gone wrong.

Exactly so - those affected (and it's not just one or two) are indeed seething.

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/state-pension-hundreds-of-pensioners-waiting-for-first-payments-after-dwp-missed-own-deadline-1280223

And even if it were just one, it would not change the fact that the customer service was far from satisfactory.

We wouldn't accept it from a bank or any other organisation - why should the DWP be able to get away with it?

Clearly, if prodded enough by somebody of sufficient status, the DWP rouses itself to take positive action - everybody else has simply to wait while it condescends to do the job properly?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78561788/#Comment_78561788

I wrote to my MP, who wrote back the next day, asking for further details so that she could contact the DWP.  Today she emailed me a copy of the reply sent to her by the DWP.  It states the amount that I will receive and says that my first four weeks of pension will be paid in arrears into my bank account on 26th August, and four weekly thereafter.  

Pollycat

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Disregarding the last half dozen posts, the fact remains that - for whatever reason - people's state pension payments are not being processed in a timely manner.

And the pandemic rolls on and on. 

It's about time we stopped using that as an excuse.

Easy for the armchair critics to solve very challenging problems. In the real world, time doesn't stand still long enough to recover lost output quickly. 

Do you think it's a valid excuse 19 months on?

My OH worked from home several days a week before retiring.
He took it seriously as it saved him time and money.
He worked a regular day, having coffee at his desk and a very short break for the lunch I prepared.

Some people worked from home at the place I worked at.
Many took advantage.
I know my boss would take his wife food shopping during his 'working' day.

Maybe it's not covid.
Maybe it's the work ethic of some of the people WFH.

xylophone

https://www.raconteur.net/customer-experience/why-covid-is-no-longer-an-excuse-for-poor-customer-service/

Those organisations that continue to blame Covid for poor customer experience risk damaging their reputations irreparably, while ceding market share to progressive competitors who have seized the opportunity to transform and upgrade their offering by investing in technology solutions.

But there is no choice whatsoever about whether or not to avail oneself of the "service" of the DWP.

p00hsticks

Vegastare said:

Troytempest said:

I am aware of 5 people (including MrsT) who reached SPA this year. All were contacted 4 months prior, did the necessary on-line and payments made exactly as they should and continue to be. So it's not all bad although I would be seething if MrsT's had gone wrong.

I think I was one of these....if it hadn't been for this thread though I would have not claimed till about a month before.....reading this made me quickly apply online, five days later received letter and stated the date and amount - it commenced exactly as stated (much to my surprise and relief).

Someone makes the point that if you do not apply online - it might be the reason for slow processing.  The Works and Pension should really accept that not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to online.  If the error is to applying by post shift more to that resource.  Those who are waiting might be those in the greatest need, and saying it will be back dated just isn't good enough.

I do wonder exactly what admin / manual intervention is required for DWP to actually process a state pension claim that results in it taking so long to turn around - I'm no expert but does it really involve much more than flagging that the person has actually claimed it and entering the bank details for payment ? Yes, the actual amount can vary from person to person, but they can give us an individual forecast during our working lives, so there shouldn't need to be any further calculation done at the point of claiming, and the starting date will also be known in advance. 

These days, even postal applications will be scanned in at the initial external mail destinations and so will be in electronic form by the time anyone in DWP actually get sight of it, so, apart from a few days delay in the postal system and barring items actually getting lost in the post I don't see that they should take much longer to process a postal application than one submitted online.

DairyQueen

Pollycat said:

Maybe it's not covid.
Maybe it's the work ethic of some of the people WFH.

Spot on. Although Covid has given the work-shy a great opportunity. 

Prior to retirement I worked from home 1/2 days per week. The company was extremely circumspect about who was permitted this option because so many had proven to be lacking a work ethic. Minus supervision many would simply take the p**s.

This was the private sector and the public sector was reputedly worse. I recall a relative (then a public sector worker) telling me that many of her colleagues had redefined 'sick days' as 'holiday'. Apparently, her dept. within the MOD was 'allowed' 8 sick days p.a. without challenge. Many of them took the max days regardless of illness. Often they were tacked onto the beginning/end of their official holiday.

Anecdotally, I had reason to contact DWP on several occasions around 4/5 years ago. No phone queues then. Is it simply coincidence that DWP's service levels have hit the floor since their staff were WFH?

The real danger is that this lack of service is now so commonplace that it becomes the new norm and acceptable to us (the masses). Anyone else recall when it took 3 months to install a new phone line in the bad old days before BT was privatised? We just accepted it as we had no other option.

I am (unashamedly) with @xylophone. Unless we kick-up a stink right now then there will be precious incentive for senior managers to address these unacceptable service levels. The sooner people are back in their offices the better. 

The difference is stark. I had reason to call Philips customer service a couple of months ago. Their (Dutch) rep answered the phone within seconds and resolved my issue within minutes. Anyone tried getting through to DVLA recently? Government departments couldn't give a monkeys about online reviews.

Thrugelmir

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Disregarding the last half dozen posts, the fact remains that - for whatever reason - people's state pension payments are not being processed in a timely manner.

And the pandemic rolls on and on. 

It's about time we stopped using that as an excuse.

Easy for the armchair critics to solve very challenging problems. In the real world, time doesn't stand still long enough to recover lost output quickly. 

Do you think it's a valid excuse 19 months on?

Depends on how much back log accumulated due to office closures during lockdown, getting staff equipped to work from home. 

Whether there's been a net loss of headcount over the period. Recruitment and training will have been extremely challenging. 

How long it took to get the IT infrastructure upgraded to enable staff to WFH.

The loss of productive time due to people suffering from Covid. Looking after their children whilst schools were closed. 

Even organising teams to work remotely from home will have been a challenge. 

Distributing post received won't have been easy.  Those employees on site will have been working in a very restricted environment. 


Having experienced major system breakdowns myself. I'm not surprised that clearing a backlog can be measured in years and months not hours.  A weeks work for somebody on 35 hours a week. Would take 7 weeks to recover if they worked an additional hour a day every day. This doesn't factor in absence through holidays and sickness. 


Then of course staff gewt diverted to deal with the endless complaints. Reducing actual productive time further. 

We live in an impatient world. Where it's expected that somebody can conjour up solutions instantly. Not the way the real world works unfortunately. 

DairyQueen

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Disregarding the last half dozen posts, the fact remains that - for whatever reason - people's state pension payments are not being processed in a timely manner.

And the pandemic rolls on and on. 

It's about time we stopped using that as an excuse.

Easy for the armchair critics to solve very challenging problems. In the real world, time doesn't stand still long enough to recover lost output quickly. 

Do you think it's a valid excuse 19 months on?

Depends on how much back log accumulated due to office closures during lockdown, getting staff equipped to work from home. 

Whether there's been a net loss of headcount over the period. Recruitment and training will have been extremely challenging. 

How long it took to get the IT infrastructure upgraded to enable staff to WFH.

The loss of productive time due to people suffering from Covid. Looking after their children whilst schools were closed. 

Even organising teams to work remotely from home will have been a challenge. 

Distributing post received won't have been easy.  Those employees on site will have been working in a very restricted environment. 


Having experienced major system breakdowns myself. I'm not surprised that clearing a backlog can be measured in years and months not hours.  A weeks work for somebody on 35 hours a week. Would take 7 weeks to recover if they worked an additional hour a day every day. This doesn't factor in absence through holidays and sickness. 


Then of course staff gewt diverted to deal with the endless complaints. Reducing actual productive time further. 

We live in an impatient world. Where it's expected that somebody can conjour up solutions instantly. Not the way the real world works unfortunately. 

How then do we explain many private sector companies' ability to provide a pretty seamless service regardless of all of the challenges that you mention? Why do we accept that the public sector is somehow immune form responding as efficiently? 

Thrugelmir

DairyQueen said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pollycat said:

Disregarding the last half dozen posts, the fact remains that - for whatever reason - people's state pension payments are not being processed in a timely manner.

And the pandemic rolls on and on. 

It's about time we stopped using that as an excuse.

Easy for the armchair critics to solve very challenging problems. In the real world, time doesn't stand still long enough to recover lost output quickly. 

Do you think it's a valid excuse 19 months on?

Depends on how much back log accumulated due to office closures during lockdown, getting staff equipped to work from home. 

Whether there's been a net loss of headcount over the period. Recruitment and training will have been extremely challenging. 

How long it took to get the IT infrastructure upgraded to enable staff to WFH.

The loss of productive time due to people suffering from Covid. Looking after their children whilst schools were closed. 

Even organising teams to work remotely from home will have been a challenge. 

Distributing post received won't have been easy.  Those employees on site will have been working in a very restricted environment. 


Having experienced major system breakdowns myself. I'm not surprised that clearing a backlog can be measured in years and months not hours.  A weeks work for somebody on 35 hours a week. Would take 7 weeks to recover if they worked an additional hour a day every day. This doesn't factor in absence through holidays and sickness. 


Then of course staff gewt diverted to deal with the endless complaints. Reducing actual productive time further. 

We live in an impatient world. Where it's expected that somebody can conjour up solutions instantly. Not the way the real world works unfortunately. 

How then do we explain many private sector companies' ability to provide a pretty seamless service regardless of all of the challenges that you mention? 

Have they? Name a public company comparable to the DWP. DWP has around 96,000 employees. For a reference point.  My partner is still awaiting her annual AVC statement for the year to the 31st March 2021.  As there's a backlog of processing to be caught up with.

Then there's the delays in investors  switching their ISA's and pensions between platforms often reported on MSE. Often running to months. 

Then there's the court backlog.