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DWP Director General of Operations

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Daphne
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rightsnet writer / editor

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Joined: 14 March 2014

Operational stakeholders have just issued a draft of their suggestion for what will be on the new DWP website page if you look for how to make a complaint - attached - it has at least got phone numbers on now!

They are inviting feedback by 30 January and ask that you send your responses to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with Draft Complaints Process as your subject heading.

Opportunity to vent your frustrations and hopefully improve things…

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Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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Total Posts: 1955

Joined: 12 October 2012

How strange, I just got a reply, undertaking to look again at these letters./

And my first case after a little break?

Massively misleading ESA letter, no EDP, etc etc etc…....

PS Daphne thanks for the document - I’ll take a look.

 

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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Total Posts: 1955

Joined: 12 October 2012

I had a go and sent this:

• The customer charter (referred to within the document)is very brief and says very little, should this not be more substantial?

• By contrast, the Service Standards leaflet is lengthy – perhaps some of the material (such as response times) should be included in the customer charter and the charter should cross-refer to the more substantial Service Standards information

• I assume that there will be a printed version of this information for those who are not online – an address or phone number for obtaining the charter and/or Service Standards leaflet should be included in it (or a pack made up containing all this information)

• The charter states that DWP will ‘make more of our services available online, to use at a time that suits you’ and yet there appears to be no route on offer for online complaints

• Following from this, there should be a dedicated email or online contact for written complaints

• Claimants should be asked their preferred method of contact and this should be adhered to unless unreasonable or impracticable

• Response times should be included where the documents states ‘We’ll deal with your complaint as quickly as possible (etc)

• ‘Complaints and appeals are different’ – on a printed version this will seem to cease suddenly – I think you need to add some text here to clarify the point, or combine the two sections referring to appeals

• A link for contacting Citizens Advice is to be welcomed, but links and other contacts for (for instance) Advice UK’s ‘find advice in your area’ and the ‘find your law centre’ section on Law Centres Network should also be looked in to; with their agreement of course

• The list of phone numbers by subject is most welcome

• Referring complaints to a Complaint Resolution Manager – ‘usually by phone’ -  should be by the customer’s preferred method, as above

• There needs to be more information on the Director General - who this is and what he does- and a link to useful online information about the DMG. At present, all gov.uk has is a short and quite unhelpful page about the DMG

• Where reference is made to appeals, the availability of CAB and other independent advice should also be repeated