Britain’s brutal benefits system is driving people to despair

[Glyn_Wigley]

Because the 'assessments' are outsourced, and guess whose mates they are that coin it in from running the companies given millions to do the assessments, but then doubly coin it in from doing the 'assessments' as cheaply as possible. And don't give a shit about how many appeals there are (due to their 'assessments' not being fit for purpose) because that part of the system is still paid for by the taxpayer and not them.

[Swifty62]

When they come for their appeal it is heard by Professionals, Doctors, professors,etc, often people have been waiting two years,to have their appeal heard

[BobG]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

[SydneyRover]

Instead of the system being set up to ensure everyone receives their full entitlements it appears to be adversarial designed to do the the opposite.

[Swifty62]

Three weeks? They were lucky, in some cases people have been deprived what they were entitled to for two years

[idler]

How many have died before their appeal was heard?

[drfchound]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

Bob, that comment about “we all know what sort of people the dwp employs” because they are paid peanuts is very unfair and very condescending.
I have a relative who worked for one of the big banks for forty odd years, in a local branch, mainly behind the counter.
After all those years she finished work on a salary of less than twenty grand.
Would you consider her and many others like her, to be one of “those type of people”.

[Glyn_Wigley]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

Bob, that comment about “we all know what sort of people the dwp employs” because they are paid peanuts is very unfair and very condescending.
I have a relative who worked for one of the big banks for forty odd years, in a local branch, mainly behind the counter.
After all those years she finished work on a salary of less than twenty grand.
Would you consider her and many others like her, to be one of “those type of people”.

The people that Bob is talking about are those who answer the phone when you call the DWP. Actually, they aren't employed by DWP, they work for Capita at Manvers or similar call centres. They're not employed know the system and give the right responses - they're employed to get through as many calls as they can as quickly as possible and keep the general public away from the DWP (and the people you really need to be talking to) itself.

[drfchound]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

Bob, that comment about “we all know what sort of people the dwp employs” because they are paid peanuts is very unfair and very condescending.
I have a relative who worked for one of the big banks for forty odd years, in a local branch, mainly behind the counter.
After all those years she finished work on a salary of less than twenty grand.
Would you consider her and many others like her, to be one of “those type of people”.

The people that Bob is talking about are those who answer the phone when you call the DWP. Actually, they aren't employed by DWP, they work for Capita at Manvers or similar call centres. They're not employed know the system and give the right responses - they're employed to get through as many calls as they can as quickly as possible and keep the general public away from the DWP (and the people you really need to be talking to) itself.

Glyn, if you read the first half of the first paragraph of Bobs post he is clearly speaking about people employed by the dwp, he says so himself.

Irrespective of that, he implies that people on low wages are some kind of second rate people, because they are on low wages.

[Sprotyrover]

I worked for them for 9 months in 1996/7 as a Job seekers advisor. The computer system was DOS based and you had to fill in each page correctly before you could move on so if you were doing it off a completed application you could guarantee that it would not be correctly completed.the best way was to get people in and fill it in for them.
They made me an under 18 advisor this difficult group mainly comprised of leaving care kids or kids from single parent homes Tart of a mum gets new boyfriend living with her and they don’t want a 16 year old Rottweiler spoiling their unprotected Sex sessions.I really felt for that group. Over half of them I later encountered in the Criminal Justice system. As for the staff 85% female and a decent bunch. The managers were a complete bunch of Tossers bar a few decent ones,they had knicknames such as Tank top Tim,Mr Pastry,Mrs Crank. Etc

[Glyn_Wigley]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

Bob, that comment about “we all know what sort of people the dwp employs” because they are paid peanuts is very unfair and very condescending.
I have a relative who worked for one of the big banks for forty odd years, in a local branch, mainly behind the counter.
After all those years she finished work on a salary of less than twenty grand.
Would you consider her and many others like her, to be one of “those type of people”.

The people that Bob is talking about are those who answer the phone when you call the DWP. Actually, they aren't employed by DWP, they work for Capita at Manvers or similar call centres. They're not employed know the system and give the right responses - they're employed to get through as many calls as they can as quickly as possible and keep the general public away from the DWP (and the people you really need to be talking to) itself.

Glyn, if you read the first half of the first paragraph of Bobs post he is clearly speaking about people employed by the dwp, he says so himself.

Irrespective of that, he implies that people on low wages are some kind of second rate people, because they are on low wages.

I know he did. A lot of people mistakenly think that the first point of contact - telephone calls to the DWP - are answered by DWP employees. They're not. They get answered by amateurs who have the grand total of zero experience of casework.

[drfchound]

My sister has made a very succesful career out of challenging the DWP. I had to turn to her myself last year when someone close to me was being given the runaround by that shower. And they really are a shower too. But then, they're paid peanuts so I suppose we all know what sort of person the DWP employs. It's almost impossible to have a sensible conversation with them. I know. i've tried.  The trick, I have found out, is to take the trouble to find someone who knows the system, and then appeal. The majority of appeals are successful. The aim of the DWP seems to be to offer as little as possible knowing full well that most people will have neither the experience, the confidence nor the knowledge with which to conduct an appeal. Losing appeals is simply the price they pay for all the success they have elsewhere.

There are people around who know the systems and processes. They can make a big difference. My friend got her higher rate PIP within I think 3 weeks of submitting her appeal. Backdated too. They seem to me to make it up as they go along keeping people away from what is perfectly reasonable. When they are challenged, they back down.

So if anyone is in dispute with the DWP, appeal the hell out of 'em.

BobG

Bob, that comment about “we all know what sort of people the dwp employs” because they are paid peanuts is very unfair and very condescending.
I have a relative who worked for one of the big banks for forty odd years, in a local branch, mainly behind the counter.
After all those years she finished work on a salary of less than twenty grand.
Would you consider her and many others like her, to be one of “those type of people”.

The people that Bob is talking about are those who answer the phone when you call the DWP. Actually, they aren't employed by DWP, they work for Capita at Manvers or similar call centres. They're not employed know the system and give the right responses - they're employed to get through as many calls as they can as quickly as possible and keep the general public away from the DWP (and the people you really need to be talking to) itself.

Glyn, if you read the first half of the first paragraph of Bobs post he is clearly speaking about people employed by the dwp, he says so himself.

Irrespective of that, he implies that people on low wages are some kind of second rate people, because they are on low wages.

I know he did. A lot of people mistakenly think that the first point of contact - telephone calls to the DWP - are answered by DWP employees. They're not. They get answered by amateurs who have the grand total of zero experience of casework.

Yeah and that is fair enough.
As you know, I was referring to Bobs comment and I thought you were saying I was wrong.
Apologies if I got the wrong end of the stick.