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DWP staff calling reps before appeals
I’ve had this a few times now.
DWP calls us before an upcoming appeal to ask us ‘some questions’. They phone from a hidden number, ask for me by name, state the client’s name and then want me to confirm the CLIENT’s personal details ‘for security’.
I’ve tried explaining to them that as we’re listed as his rep, it’s surely OUR details they need to confirm, but no. Of course I can’t divulge a client’s details without asking some questions of my own…
However, they refuse to give any information whatsoever before I answer their security questions.
The chances of a call like this being illegitimate are pretty minimal, but I need SOMETHING to work with!
They suggested I phone the (in this case PIP) helpline and they’d be able to confirm the call is legitimate - hah! fat chance! I’ll just be on hold for an hour with a 1% chance they’ll be able/willing to help. More likely they’ll just get confused and hang up.
I lack SFW adjectives to describe how I feel about dealing with DWP phone calls, whether initiated by me or them.
[ Edited: 24 Nov 2022 at 10:59 am by Va1der ]I think you are over thinking it. They have your details as you are the rep. You are both mutually confirming the client details to allow a conversation as many Reps have more than one case on the go. Invariably they are phoning to try and give an award without the need for the appeal hearing which for most clients is a godsend.
However, their advice to phone the PIP helpline to get confirmation that call is genuine is simply outstanding!! I share your frustration regarding that.
It didn’t really require any thinking. If we can’t verify who someone are we won’t divulge sensitive information, or even acknowledge that someone is our client.
And I disagree that appeal offers are a godsend - they are more akin to a deal with the devil. I’ve had zero cases where DWP haven’t tried to hold back something from an award offered in this fashion - either a lower award or for a shorter period.
For intents and purposes the value of the call is realised though. They’ve let me know they’re going to contact one of my clients, for some purpose, and they’ve given me enough info to identify that client so I can chase it up with them.
There are any number of ways DWP could deal with this situation - I’m just frustrated they’ve picked the stupidest and most awkward possible. Especially considering how they deal with us when we contact them.
It’s a sort of GDPR stunlock. They won’t reveal any personal information until you’ve passed security. But you passing security requires you to divulge personal information which you won’t do until they’ve divulged sufficient personal information to satisfy you that you can talk to them. Ad infinitum.
It’s up to you what you do of course but it is plainly in the client’s interests that you take these calls. If you think that the proposal sells your client short then perhaps a solution to that might be to put that to the DM when they ring? We went through a whole JR to establish the principle that the DM should ring up the rep first before ringing the client.
Do they call from a withheld number or from 0800 023 2635? If the former I’d be wary personally but if the latter seeing as that’s a known number for outgoing DWP calls I’d be less worried.
Personally though I’d tend to agree that it’s clearly in the clients interests to the take call. Even if the DWP offer a lower award than you’ve asked for then for one you could always talk the DM around to making the higher award that you’re after and for another, if the call happens in early in the appeal process, you may as well accept the offer and then re-appeal the revised award. You’ll lose a little bit of time as you go back to the start of the queue for a hearing but your client gets some money sooner.
Like I said, I do take the call and it achieves the purpose of alerting me that something is happening. I don’t really need it to do anything more than that.
I sincerely doubt I could say something to sway the DM at that moment. As I understood it’s more of a courtesy call - though I’d be happy to hear people’s experiences if different(?)
I’d advise my clients to accept the offer in most situations - if only to attain an (increased) award while we proceed to appeal. I think the main issue arose when we didn’t know these offers were being made and clients accepted without telling us - causing unnecessary delays until we get a lapsed notice through the post.
It also adds a degree of accountability - DWP knows they can’t relentlessly pressure clients to accept things if they know we’re keenly aware of their interactions.
This isn’t an example of a GDPR barrier though, as those regs and guidance allow for a fair degree of information sharing. It’s just a frustrating interaction with DWP practices.
Keeping in mind they post us 100s of pages of sensitive medical information - to the address listed on the same page as our phone number, without even needing that to be signed for.
Do they call from a withheld number or from 0800 023 2635? If the former I’d be wary personally but if the latter seeing as that’s a known number for outgoing DWP calls I’d be less worried.
Personally though I’d tend to agree that it’s clearly in the clients interests to the take call. Even if the DWP offer a lower award than you’ve asked for then for one you could always talk the DM around to making the higher award that you’re after and for another, if the call happens in early in the appeal process, you may as well accept the offer and then re-appeal the revised award. You’ll lose a little bit of time as you go back to the start of the queue for a hearing but your client gets some money sooner.
It’s been from a withheld number.
Indeed, phoning from a recognisable number is one of the easy solutions that could alleviate this problem. Or similarly, they could point us to a recognisable number to call ourselves.
Until recently I would say that all DWP offers either offered the wrong award length or the wrong amounts. I have finally had one where both aspects were correct. Still have the bump on my head where I fainted.
Suffice to say I am still awaiting the day when DWP call me as the rep. to make an offer post the new guidance. They made one superb effort where I received a voicemail from a female staff member telling me that they wanted to talk to me about a client of mine but didn’t give me their name, number or the name of the client. I was finally able to deduce who it was about 3 weeks or so later when the appeal was lapsed.
I do disagree about persuading them to change their minds though. I have taken 1 offer call where they were about to offer a time limited award and the wrong amount. They didn’t budge on the amount but did move to ongoing. Accepted and inevitably won the amount within a few minutes at tribunal. It really depends on who makes the call though. Where it’s the actual DM then there is a meaningful conversation to be had. Often times though it appears to be a job palmed off to someone tasked with the job of giving what is perceived to be “good news"and ill-equipped to cope with the response of a rep. that it’s still the wrong decision.
Had a pleasant surprise last week, missed call from Appeals team but they emailed me asking for a suitable time to call which duly happened. Initially advised willing to now offer SR Mobility for Mobility1d but after discussion agreed to award 1f and ER Mobility and therefore appeal lapsed. New award letter just arrived today.
Wish it could always go like that but hats off to the appeals officer for how they listened and understood.