Post by wembred11 on Feb 9, 2011 17:22:53 GMT 1
When somebody finds themselves in a situation where they need to find out what options are available to them or what benefits they may be entitled to they need advice from a suitable source. What do you do when that source is complex, unhelpful and causes more uncertainty?
At the age of 45 I experienced a mental breakdown. I had been signed off indefinitely by my GP and was struggling to come to terms with the fact that for the first time in my life I wasn’t able to earn a living to support myself and my 16 year-old son who was in the middle of his GCSEs. I was naturally also worried about how I would be able to pay my mortgage and associated unavoidable expenditure.
I consider myself a reasonably intelligent and educated woman – I’d brought up two children largely alone – had recently achieved a post-graduate qualification and was normally perfectly capable of communicating with the people necessary to assist me in any situation, and of completing application forms. Regrettably my capabilities were no match for the impenetrable wall of bureaucracy that was the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). There is little point in my describing each point of detail since this post would prove far too long to sustain focus.
In summary I found the ‘help and advice’ lines were manned by mainly unsympathetic operatives who were unable to relate to my individual case. It appeared that they were trained to answer queries that conformed to a flow-chart technique and if they didn’t understand where my specific query belonged they would either refer me to another number or suggest I wrote a letter. The amount of forms and information I supplied would prove daunting to the most experienced administrator – I know this because I am one. After several weeks of going around in circles with no continuity of advice I eventually lost my control and sobbed on the telephone in frustration at the lack of support and helpful guidance – this did result in my case being assigned a direct telephone number and a named contact but by the time this happened I had been considerably affected by the experience and was by now seriously concerned about my mortgage arrears.
I wasn’t in a financial position to consider being able to pay for legal assistance and it was suggested that I should contact the Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB). I had no previous experience of their work and given my experiences thus far I confess my expectations weren’t high. To this day I will be eternally grateful for their specialist help and for restoring my faith in human kindness. From the first interview I was greatly encouraged by the genuine understanding of my situation but this alone would merely have provided the ‘tea and sympathy’ approach - which was what I probably expected. The reality meant the advisor actually listened to my case details, made detailed notes, went through every aspect of my situation and from that point on provided support and guidance through to my eventual return to work. Without their proven expertise and professional guidance I know that I wouldn’t have been in a position to return to work relatively intact despite the best efforts of a poorly-designed, confusing benefits system.
I understand that the new government are suggesting that the advice given by the CAB is ‘basic and mechanical’ – I suggest they haven’t done their research – removing funding for this vital, human support system would be inhuman.
At the age of 45 I experienced a mental breakdown. I had been signed off indefinitely by my GP and was struggling to come to terms with the fact that for the first time in my life I wasn’t able to earn a living to support myself and my 16 year-old son who was in the middle of his GCSEs. I was naturally also worried about how I would be able to pay my mortgage and associated unavoidable expenditure.
I consider myself a reasonably intelligent and educated woman – I’d brought up two children largely alone – had recently achieved a post-graduate qualification and was normally perfectly capable of communicating with the people necessary to assist me in any situation, and of completing application forms. Regrettably my capabilities were no match for the impenetrable wall of bureaucracy that was the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). There is little point in my describing each point of detail since this post would prove far too long to sustain focus.
In summary I found the ‘help and advice’ lines were manned by mainly unsympathetic operatives who were unable to relate to my individual case. It appeared that they were trained to answer queries that conformed to a flow-chart technique and if they didn’t understand where my specific query belonged they would either refer me to another number or suggest I wrote a letter. The amount of forms and information I supplied would prove daunting to the most experienced administrator – I know this because I am one. After several weeks of going around in circles with no continuity of advice I eventually lost my control and sobbed on the telephone in frustration at the lack of support and helpful guidance – this did result in my case being assigned a direct telephone number and a named contact but by the time this happened I had been considerably affected by the experience and was by now seriously concerned about my mortgage arrears.
I wasn’t in a financial position to consider being able to pay for legal assistance and it was suggested that I should contact the Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB). I had no previous experience of their work and given my experiences thus far I confess my expectations weren’t high. To this day I will be eternally grateful for their specialist help and for restoring my faith in human kindness. From the first interview I was greatly encouraged by the genuine understanding of my situation but this alone would merely have provided the ‘tea and sympathy’ approach - which was what I probably expected. The reality meant the advisor actually listened to my case details, made detailed notes, went through every aspect of my situation and from that point on provided support and guidance through to my eventual return to work. Without their proven expertise and professional guidance I know that I wouldn’t have been in a position to return to work relatively intact despite the best efforts of a poorly-designed, confusing benefits system.
I understand that the new government are suggesting that the advice given by the CAB is ‘basic and mechanical’ – I suggest they haven’t done their research – removing funding for this vital, human support system would be inhuman.