DWP worker calls a mum of three a ‘scrounging b*****d’ on answerphone

Last Updated: August 5, 2016By

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This is the kind of person now working for the government department that is supposed to be your safety net in times of need.

There’s racism, there’s an inference of scrounging that isn’t borne out by the evidence, and there’s a claim that this mother-of-three is “popping out kids like pigs”.

At a time when adverse discrimination of any kind – be it related to race, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation or whatever – is being hotly excoriated in our politicians, particularly in the Labour Party, civil servants are getting away with this.

And this isn’t the first time a DWP operative has been found expressing such appalling views about a client.

It is a scandal. Now watch your government brush it under the carpet.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff member is under investigation this week after she left an answerphone message for mum of three Cecilia Garcia calling her a “scrounging b*stard” who was “popping out kids like pigs”.

Ann Goode, from the DWP Jobcentre Plus office in Bromley had called Garcia to discuss her claim for benefits after her marriage had broken down and she’d been forced to give up her job in finance to look after her three children. Garcia had been struggling to pay her rent, so she contacted the DWP to see what support she could receive.

But the answerphone message she received on 29 July left her shocked. Because what Goode didn’t realise was that she hadn’t hung up after she’d finished her intended message.

She and her colleague discuss in detail just what benefits Garcia is receiving. Goode comments that “…her cap is £253.26. That’s over £1,000 a month”. Her colleague replies “between now and then she must have managed to get herself some more benefits along the line”.

It’s then that Goode launches into her tirade. She says:

None of these names… Miss Cecilia Garcia… None of them are English names… why are we running around for these people? Do you know I resent even doing this work because if I had a person who said ‘I really want a job, I want to go on your caseload’, yes, all the time, every day of the week. But not some scrounging b*****d that’s popping out kids like pigs.

Aside from the fact that Garcia has a dual British/Mexican passport and all three of her children were born in the UK, this rant by a member of the DWP gives a shocking insight into attitudes at the department supposedly responsible for ‘social security’.

Source: A DWP worker calls a mum of three a ‘scrounging b*stard’ in leaked answerphone message [AUDIO] | The Canary

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13 Comments

  1. paulrutherford8 August 5, 2016 at 12:34 am - Reply

    I would expect these people to discover what it’s like to be on the other end of the phone line pretty quickly. But somehow I doubt that will happen.

    • David Woods August 5, 2016 at 8:24 am - Reply

      No they will just be ‘retrained’ enough to make sure they disconnect the phonecall!

  2. Christine Cullen August 5, 2016 at 12:52 am - Reply

    Propaganda is a powerful tool which has been expertly used by the Tories to change both the political climate and people’s attitudes. People are susceptible when they lead busy lives, too much information to process, leading to use of stereotypes and rules of thumb, instead of analysing properly what is going on. Myths get reinforced and stereotypes get embedded in our consciousness by the time that politicians and the media have repeated the message enough times.
    Garcia unwittingly fits a stereotype and the busy, somewhat nasty person dealing with her has had the attitude implanted (if she didn’t already own it herself,) and is in a position of power to exercise her supposed superiority that the Tories and media have told her she has.
    It’s not an excuse, it’s a result for the likes of IDS and Osborne who are truly two of the most cruel people in this land. I’d love to be a fly on the wall of DWP training sessions. I’d be willing to bet that the decent people don’t stay in the job long or have breakdowns, or stay because they need the job and do as little damage as they can get away with; and the nasty or easily led are the ones who remain and relish the challenge.
    Easy for me to talk as I always had a job I loved that didn’t entail torturing people on behalf of a Tory minister.

  3. Jeffrey Davies August 5, 2016 at 5:49 am - Reply

    oh dont worry if they ever get universal credit to work most of the signing on will be done on computers thuss throwing out these dreggs of humanity onto the scrap heap

  4. John August 5, 2016 at 6:26 am - Reply

    Wonder what the ratio is of staff that behave like this, compared to staff that behave in a professional manner? Given the pressure that a lot of DWP staff will be under (I’ve read A LOT of reports), I bet it’s something like 8/10.
    This is by no means the first case, and it definitely won’t be the last.

    • Mike Sivier August 5, 2016 at 11:04 am - Reply

      You can be sure that those who do behave in a professional manner – and they do exist – are really, REALLY, upset and angry about those who don’t.

      • John August 5, 2016 at 5:53 pm - Reply

        Yep, totally agree with that. However, as has already been mentioned by other commenters on this post, those professionals quite possibly don’t last long, or quickly turn into short tempered/nervous people.
        From what I’ve been reading, there’s a whole c*cktail of different factors present in a number of job centres, that has resulted in benefit claimants being put through frustrating (and that’s putting it lightly) experiences.
        Moral in these places is rock bottom (and again, that’s putting it lightly!)

  5. NMac August 5, 2016 at 7:37 am - Reply

    Is anything being done to discipline this ignorant civil servant?

  6. chriskitcher August 5, 2016 at 8:04 am - Reply

    Sadly the epitome of the culture instilled in this department by IDS. How can it be changed after such a long period of mismanagement God only knows.

  7. Flook the Magnificent August 5, 2016 at 9:00 am - Reply

    If the DWP officer isn’t sacked for this I want to know the reason why. It would be poetic justice if, with such a black mark against her name, she ended up having to apply for Universal Credit herself! Although I suppose UKIP or Taxpayer’s Alliance might offer her a position based on her past record.

  8. Joan Edington August 5, 2016 at 10:25 am - Reply

    A Gordon Brown moment if ever there was one.

  9. mrmarcpc August 5, 2016 at 3:20 pm - Reply

    Doesn’t surprise me this, this is what the government are recruiting and instilling into the British psyche about the less off, intolerance, callousness, lacking in any compassion at all, that’s modern Britain for you, courtesy of the nasty party! This shouldn’t be swept under the carpet, should be exposed by any means necessary to humiliate the government as much as possible and the cretin who said that to her should be sacked and prosecuted too!

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