Director of Finance,
P.O Box No 2,
Birkenhead,
Wirral
CH41 6BU
11 Feb. 11
Dear Sir/Madam,
Following a conversation with one of your management staff at your office- as well as several prior conversations with your helpline- I have been advised to submit a letter for your attention.
In November 2010 I was in the unfortunate position of being unemployed. I submitted a claim online for both housing benefit and jobseekers allowance. These claims seem to have been lost in the ether of the World Wide Web, possibly lurking in some shady inbox, never to be seen again.
After a week without any kind of reply I submitted a claim by phone for jobseekers allowance and was asked if I had applied for housing benefit at the time. I replied that I had and was advised that this would still stand and would be dealt with by yourselves. Thinking all was well I concentrated on finding another job and thought nothing of it, believing that the claim was being dealt with. My landlord was, I must say, quite understanding about my situation. Being in a recession meant a lot of people were suffering and as we were both sure that the benefits system was working on quite a backlog we didn’t question any further.
I eventually had to sign on. Not a pleasant experience but a necessary one nonetheless. At the jobcentre I asked a third time if the housing benefit application was being processed. I was advised that yes, the application was pending and that I would hear something back soon. Christmas happened and I was beginning to worry. It had been a month since I had initially applied and my landlord was beginning to get anxious. I eventually called in to the one stop shop and was told that no application had been received. Despite being advised twice that it had. Obviously I was unhappy about this but as soon as possible I got all evidence I believed necessary to yourselves and requested that this be backdated. So far I have submitted;
- · A “letter of entitlement” from the jobcentre advising that I was in receipt of benefits and therefore entitled to claim housing benefit.
- · Bank statements for my current account.
- · A letter from my landlord outlining how much and how often my rent was to be paid.
- · A completed claim form for housing benefit which was filled out with help from one of the staff in the one stop shop.
All of this was handed in by the 17th January 2011. I commenced work at my current job on the 10th January so was unable to come and provide any more evidence in person after this date.
I received a letter dated the 31st January 2011 explaining that further evidence was required. If you check your records you will see that this letter states the following:
“I will require consecutive statements covering the last 2 months transactions for your second Lloyds TSB account”
Before handing this in I contacted your helpdesk to ask if this is all that was needed. Sadly not. There was one further requirement which presumably I had to guess for myself. I was to hand in proof that I applied for housing benefit at the same time as my initial claim for jobseekers allowance. The only problem is, I wasn’t told that at the time. Instead I was advised that a letter detailing my total claim for jobseeker’s allowance would be sufficient.
Acting in good faith I dispatched a friend the very same day I received the letter (the 3rd of February which- by a startling coincidence- was the deadline for you to receive these documentation. Anyone would think this was meant to be difficult.) To the one stop shop to hand in these documents and bring this whole sorry mess to a close.
I called later that day to make sure the documents were received and was told that they were. I put my feet up and enjoyed a really nice weekend.
Monday arrived and I thought I’d check up on things, as it had all gone so smoothly before. Sadly the letter that I had submitted from the jobcentre outlining my jobseeker’s claim was unacceptable. This was a shame as it had been so clearly asked for in your letter of the 31st January. I am genuinely sorry for the manner in which I spoke to the poor lady on the phone after that, as she was only doing her job. Sadly she was on the receiving end of a situation that should never have happened in the first place.
On Wednesday the 9th February I called the jobcentre again to obtain this letter and was subjected to the type of efficient, friendly customer service that would only be expected in the second layer of hell. As my next day off was on Friday the 11th I asked for this letter to be issued first class so I could come to the one stop shop in person and hand in the letter myself so I could finally- over a month later- pay my rent.
The letter did not arrive. It turns out the member of staff had not only not issued the letter but had decided that the data protection act didn’t apply to her and that she could not only access peoples information on the DWP’s computer systems but also not leave notes on them so she could not be traced. This is the subject of a complaint which I am not very happy about but I feel merits a mention as part of the broader picture of quite baffling treatment that the DWP seem to think is acceptable.
After spending a large part of my day off on the phone to both yourselves and the jobcentre I was informed that they would check a recording of my initial claim for JSA to find out if I had asked about housing benefit. This should be with me Monday the 14th February.
I was also informed by the jobcentre that housing benefit is not linked to jobseekers allowance and that if someone is on an income of under £98 a week then they will automatically qualify for housing benefit. This being the case I can only wonder why I was asked to provide this letter from the jobcentre (I know it’s probably hard to keep up, this thing makes inception look like some godawful romcom in terms of being complicated) stating that I did actually apply for housing benefit when I initially claimed JSA. Quite simply, no such letter exists. It is something that the jobcentre do. Not. Provide.
This being the case I feel that I have provided all documentation I have been asked for. I have put myself out obtaining this documentation when I have only just started a new job in the first place so I don’t have to claim any benefits anymore because- as insane as this may seem- I don’t really like claiming them! At every turn I have been greeted with an attitude that suggests that nobody communicates with each other and that my claim is being delayed as much as humanly possible.
I really would like to bring this whole sorry mess to a close, I don’t particularly like corresponding with your department and I’m sure you could do without sarcastic letters and angry phone call. If you would be so kind as to pay the backdated benefit from the 7th of December then I would really appreciate it.
Yours sincerely,
MAN THOUGHTS
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