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Just needed to have a whinge: 1 hr 24 mins this afternoon trying to get a time extension for the return of a PIP AR1 - the elevator music stops: I speak to thin air for 5 minutes, and then the blighter picks up their headset and Cuts Me Off!!
Am still WFH and relying on implicit consent but, seriously, how do others cope if they need their client with them to give a verbal authority??
Can we please have an Option 7 - “if you need a bit more time to get your form in”?
Grrr! Whinge completed
Elaine :-( .
I was the same yesterday with an ESAA query. A whole hour long appointment on hold and then cut off. My client is coming in to see me tomorrow at 8am before her scan at the hospital to try again to get through!
If, on a daily basis, they are experiencing “unprecedented” call volumes, then it is NOT “unprecedented”, but the natural result of understaffing.
On the other hand the last few weeks I’ve been getting through on the UC helpline lightening fast. I’ve been navigating all the automated guff for longer than I was then on hold to get through to an adviser. I assume therefore that they’ll be redeploying a load of UC staff somewhere else to ensure that wait times are brought back up to their proper level!
Have been on hold to PIP for 48 minutes now. Tried last week with the same client, it cut off twice before an answer, then was on hold for an hour before the client lost patience. He needs to request an MR of a refusal but doesn’t know the decision date (in the last six months), can’t find the decision letter and is not literate. Why can’t the DWP answer the phone?!
Have been on hold to PIP for 48 minutes now. Tried last week with the same client, it cut off twice before an answer, then was on hold for an hour before the client lost patience. He needs to request an MR of a refusal but doesn’t know the decision date (in the last six months), can’t find the decision letter and is not literate. Why can’t the DWP answer the phone?!
If you know the MR is in time just submit it.
EDIT: Best way to deal with DWP phonelines is to minimise their use to when you absolutely need them (which I find isn’t actually that often).
[ Edited: 18 Oct 2022 at 12:06 pm by Va1der ]Finally got through after an hour. Cl’s original decision was in November 2021, an MRN was issued in January, but cl didn’t proceed to appeal. Another MR of the same decision was requested recently (no details) and an MRN dated 11/10/22 has now been issued, original decision unchanged. So on to appeal!
I rarely use the phone for mandatory reconsideration applications . I usually complete a CRM1 and get the client to sign it or otherwise add a written authorisation
If I do call and need the client’s verbal consent I make the call as a conference call. Working remotely from home has not been a problem in that respect
It will inevitably still be frustating for both of us waiting for up to an hour and could end up being a complete waste of time but at least I am not put into the postition where th operator refuses to talk to me because of “data protection” as the client is on the line with me
Just a Thursday moan about ESA on hold times - I rang ESA at 9.07am - on hold for over an hour, on hold music stopped, and then the phone cut out after a few more minutes.
Tried calling a week and a half ago at 4.30pm on a Thursday and was on hold for 1h 34, then reached 5pm with no one answering me, and 5pm is when the lines close.
All I want to do is help client request an SDP…
Just a Thursday moan about ESA on hold times - I rang ESA at 9.07am - on hold for over an hour, on hold music stopped, and then the phone cut out after a few more minutes.
Tried calling a week and a half ago at 4.30pm on a Thursday and was on hold for 1h 34, then reached 5pm with no one answering me, and 5pm is when the lines close.
All I want to do is help client request an SDP…
What about an IS10 form? https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/is10_form - assuming they’re still accepted!
Definitely a possibility - just always thought that being able to complete the IS10 over the phone is more direct - especially in recent times of post disruption…
Absolutely!! Sharing the frustrations of communications these days!
:-(
Elaine