UC helpline to change to freephone number

Well yes.  They should never have had these expensive phone numbers in the first place - it is a disgraceful penny pinching approach.  What kind of idiot who is so clearly out of touch with the lives of DWP’s customers thinks up this sort of policy? 

So they bow to public pressure, but aren’t Freephone numbers charged for by some mobile providers, especially the cheaper third party ones?

neilbateman - 18 October 2017 04:45 PM

Well yes.  They should never have had these expensive phone numbers in the first place - it is a disgraceful penny pinching approach.  What kind of idiot who is so clearly out of touch with the lives of DWP’s customers thinks up this sort of policy? 

So they bow to public pressure, but aren’t Freephone numbers charged for by some mobile providers, especially the cheaper third party ones?

Since 2010, calls via the six major mobile operators to the “main” DWP 0800 numbers have been free. I guess that DWP just need to ensure that the new UC 0800 number is added to the agreed list of free helplines.

I was under the impression a number of the 2010 contracts with phone providers had expired and not been renewed around 2015. Almost certain one went up in smoke as soon as a certain two providers merged.

All this is of course kicking about in the long grass when we should be in the middle of the pitch asking why so many phone calls might be needed in the first place.

Good point Mike.

Not just the number of phone calls, but their content.

The fact that claimants are charged for the calls only adds insult to injury - a phone call where one actually gets to speak to someone who has anything approaching a clue is unusual and a call which actually results in an issue being resolved as rare as hens’ teeth. Of course claimants shouldn’t be charged - but I suspect there’d be much less of an outcry at having to spend 55p a minute on calls to a ‘Helpline’ that actually helped.

As it is, the reality is more akin to the worst stereotyped public service in a third world country or soviet era bureaucracy;

- public officials understand neither the system they are supposed to be running nor the legislation governing it. And care not a bit.

- when a public official tells you something about the system and how it works, odds are they’re just making it up

- when a public official tells you they will do something, neither he nor you expect it to be done

- when members of the government make statements in Parliament about the system they either lie or are genuinely ignorant of what it is they speak. Which matters not - they care even less, as the people whose lives are really impacted by the system they have created and are defending are the most politically disenfranchised. There is no political price these charlatans have to pay for any of this.

In fact, some of third world country systems might actually be an advance - there might be the chance of paying a bribe to get a public official to do something.

Written answer in parliament on Friday gives the average time for a call to the helpline as around 11 or 12 minutes - so about £6/£6.50 per call until it goes freephone!!

DWP says final set of helpline numbers have been changed to freephone today.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/final-dwp-customer-telephone-lines-become-free

Is there one place where all the new DWP freephone numbers are published online?  I’ve been looking on GOV.UK but they seem to be scattered around in various different pages.  If anyone has a link, or has collated the numbers, that would be really helpful.

Many thanks.

Here’s the list I circulated to my colleagues. It is incomplete but has the most commonly used numbers.

The numbers to contact the DWP for existing claims are as follows:

JSA/IS/IB/ESA             0800 169 0310
Social Fund                 0800 169 0140
Maternity Allowance       0800 169 0283

Other new 0800 numbers are as follows:

PIP enquiry line                 0800 121 4433
DLA (for child or current claims if
date of birth after 8 April 1948)          0800 121 4600
IIDB                           0800 121 8379

The numbers for Universal Credit are as follows:

Live service         0800 328 9344
Full service         0800 328 5644

There is also this from the December edition of DWP update

Thank you both - that’s really helpful.

Thanks Billy, that’s really helpful