ICE; who watches the watchmen

I don’t even know where to stick this ridiculousness.

ICE complaint submitted mid October
Took them until 2nd of December to “accept it”.
And today they wrote to me to confirm that it “has been passed on to full investigation.”
But…currently they are looking at complaints accepted in January 2021.

I mean what is the use of that? None, I tell you. By the time they are able to investigate fully, which sound it may happen in December 2022, no one relevant will care or be even employed by DWP.

The client was treated so badly by people administering his UC claim, that it genuinely upset me, and I have been doing this job for nearly 20 years now. And it looks like ABSOLUTELY NO CONSEQUENCES will be delivered to those who were culpable.

Who funds ICE? Because they clearly do not have sufficient resources.

It is so frustrating that they also seem to have introduced a two tier approach - we complained and they sent us back a summary of the issues for us to confirm or otherwise the case would be closed?

“If I do not hear from you by 8 December 2021 I will close your case. Please let me know before this date if you need more time.”

I guess it is a way of meeting initial deadlines and also in hope that people give up, as my client did because as she felt they were trying all ways not to address her concerns. So a lot of wasted time for us too!

Oh I’ve had to confirm their “understanding” of the issue twice!
Fair enough, they need to filter our ineligible complaints, but it is hard not to think of it as a way to discourage some people from continuing.

ICE have always made DWP maladministration look pretty okay really. They are staggering, in every sense.