contacting UC on clients behalf

Is this correct. i called UC spoke to man who answered, told him I was from CAB and my client put a note giving authority for UC to discuss his claim with me. UC man says I have to have client on another line t the time for UC to go through security with client and only the will UC speak to me. Mus say the UC man was a grumpy sounding individual who would not even agree to look at client’s journal to check

No….badly trained call centre individual! Here is an extract from the following link,

You can withdraw the consent for a representative at any time:
by making an entry on your online journal
in person, at an appointment in the jobcentre
Once you have given explicit consent, the representative will need to confirm the following details to receive relevant information about you and your Universal Credit claim:
your full name
your address or date of birth
what information you have agreed to share
the purpose for the information being shared
their name or the organisation they belong to (where this applies)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-consent-and-disclosure-of-information

on the 3rd attempt a UC ‘advisor’ did agree to look at the journal but told me all she could do was red what it said to me and could not answer my query, she said cl just has to accept what’s on the journal and speak to his work coach/account manager, Mt client has been putting more and more comments on his journal asking for an explanation of his UC award and deductions. absolutely hopeless

They are wrong but it happens all the time as most of them are clueless. I usually just refuse to get off the phone until a supervisor is put on, repeatedly read out their own guidance at them. Supervisor usually goes away and checks then sheepishly comes back, apologises and sorts things out. This isn’t as successful since home working though as they usually just claim no supervisor is available.

It’s a massive hassle but they never learn. I started trying to use conference calls instead of 3rd party consent to avoid this whole issue as it gets really old having to do this every single time.

yes JAS 1 its a nightmare, then even more bizarre . I got through to a UC helpline man who was so pally it made me shiver, HE told me WCA could take months as the UC system is hopeless, , passed me through security without a NINO or much else, then at the end of the call, asked how he could access citizens advice as he needed help himself, he was French and had a good laugh at the ‘English’ benefits system that was employing him,

How bizarre! Always full of surprises DWP.

He is right about the WCA though, it’s a massive wait at the moment I believe