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Telephone calls to DWP -on hold waiting time increasing again
With increased call wait times, perhaps a return to advisor only numbers into DWP being re-introduced. They worked back in the old days.
45 minutes on hold to ESA then incredulously an engaged tone. Mindlessly I called back and gave up after 35 minutes.
This is getting silly now and I can only assume its a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise people further from the legacy system.
Next stop quick email to MP’s office to abreast him of the problem faced by his constituents.
Considering all the propaganda we get about them “helping people into work”, it would hardly be rocket science to “help” a few people “into work” answering JCP phonelines? There is obviously a need. However, I am aware that such a logical, common sense approach to the issue would be totally beyond the imagination of anyone at the DWP. (Imagine the shock and outrage at the idea of actually helping someone!)
I think it’s another thing to blame on Universal Credit. I was told by our DWP liaison bod to expect phone delays on the Universal Credit helpline as they bring in a new “enhanced telephony” system which recognises the number you are dialling from and directs you to your appropriate case manager and, apparently, if it doesn’t recognise your number it will ask you to enter another one, so advisers can enter their client’s number and be put through, only to be defeated by explicit consent no doubt. As a result helpline operators are gradually diminishing in numbers hence longer times to get through. I was on hold for 1hr 10 minutes on Friday (which gave me time to gather a few more cases I wanted to discuss). Frustrating, I know. I think all we can do is keep hassling our DWP partnership liaison people on a local level and keep raising it on a national level via Daphne and the stakeholders forum.
“As a result helpline operators are gradually diminishing in numbers hence longer times to get through.”
Universal Credit:- Helping to put telephone operators out of work! (And doubtless keeping them out of work for longer than ever before).
They don’t answer letters at all.
You have to phone up to tell them you’ve sent a letter…
At least that was how it was explained to me when I phoned last week to query if an IS10 I had sent had been received. Yes, they did get it five weeks ago but it’s still sitting unactioned in a scanned mail folder, where it would have remained indefinitely pending anyone phoning.
Now that I’ve phoned, they’ll forward it to the processing centre.
This is my experience aswell. What a joke.
Got my employer to get me a phone headset for this very reason. Alleviate the sore neck! 30 mins on hold today, agent answered and cut the call off, so back on for another 30 minute hold. I wish they would change their hold music from time to time
Just spent 1hr 20 mins on hold to ESA.
Was given the same explanation about it being down to the calls being made free. I’m not buying that excuse - the calls were made free at the beginning of the year and this has become a problem much more recently.
Spare a thought for the call handlers though - they apparently aren’t allowed to go home till all of the calls that were on hold at 6pm are cleared.
Spent 1hr 20 minutes waiting to speak to a guy from Norwich service centre using implicit consent.
I asked him if he could pass on a message to the decision maker that client’s Payment Exception Service card had not arrived after 3 weeks.
He said that as this was a ‘payment’ issue he could not pass on the message. Does anyone know if this is correct??? Is it worth a complaint???
I am on the apollo list btw.
Although in a parliamentary Q&A on universal credit, the Secretary of State is on it -
Q (Dame Cheryl Gillan): Vulnerable claimants often consult their local citizens advice bureau. On a visit to the Chesham citizens advice bureau, staff told me that the fixed-term, timed appointments for their clients are often taken up by them hanging on to the DWP telephone line for up to 25 or 30 minutes, and then the time for the appointment has expired. Will the Secretary of State look at the telephone line and try to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, so that CAB advisers can instantly access the advice that they need to help these clients to make universal credit go smoothly?
A: (Ms McVey) My right hon. Friend ... raises a very good point. We will look into exactly what we can do to do that for the citizens advice bureaux, as we have a very good working relationship with them.
Trouble is that ESA take two or three times as long to answer the phone as UC round these parts. UC are pretty quick to pick up.
Agreed. Time on hold for UC queries is actually not that bad (although usually a waste of time as the call centre operatives seem to be “trained” to be obstructive, know-nothings!)
Try the Pension Service though and you’ll need a calendar to record your time on hold. Perhaps the strategy is to delay answering for so long that claimants pass away while on hold?
Trouble is that ESA take two or three times as long to answer the phone as UC round these parts. UC are pretty quick to pick up.
The last 2 calls I’ve made to UC it has taken them over 40 minutes to pick up. And I was on hold for nearly an hour to PIP on Friday then it cut out, by which time the helpline had closed…
Trouble is that ESA take two or three times as long to answer the phone as UC round these parts. UC are pretty quick to pick up.
The last 2 calls I’ve made to UC it has taken them over 40 minutes to pick up.
Live or Full Service? We’ve got direct telephony round these parts and it’s much improved things for now at least.
/tempting fate
Full service. One call in Calderdale, one in Kirklees. What is direct telephony?