Coronavirus: ‘Don’t call us’ say DWP as Universal Credit Claim line is overwhelmed

This is what happens when you create a system to stop people claiming benefits – and then need to pay them to millions of people.

The Tory government could just switch to a Universal Basic Income system that is straightforward and cheaper – but for some reason it doesn’t seem to want to do that.

I wonder why not?

Instead – well, read about the shambles for yourself:

From Thursday, a new frontline team will be in place to proactively call customers where additional information is required.

Customers applying for universal credit are being advised to sign-up online, where they can share details such as salary and national insurance information for the DWP to assess.

It said claims will then be reviewed, and where additional details are needed, it will get in touch with you over the phone or via your online portal.

The move, it said, is designed to take some of the worry and frustration out of submitting a claim, while speeding it up by putting an end to long call wait times.

More than 1.2 million people have applied for Universal Credit in the past three weeks, and in the past seven days more than 5.8 million calls have been made to its helpline, equivalent to three times the average per day.

That’s an awful lot of people signing up to wait five weeks before they get any money.

And they’ve overloaded the system.

On April 8, the DWP admitted access to its phone lines had to be “controlled” in order to stop critical services like NHS 111 collapsing.

Now, it is asking people to avoid its phone lines altogether.

That is not the statement of an organisation that wants to help.

It is an organisation that only wants to help itself.

Source: Universal Credit claimants sent urgent message by DWP as millions more sign up – Mirror Online

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3 Comments

  1. Stu April 12, 2020 at 8:26 am - Reply

    What annoys me is the way that the Tories and Civil Service cynically pull out the “Help the NHS” card every time that they are backed into a corner.

    But when it comes time for them to help the NHS by giving wage rises or enough cash to survive then they change their tune – hypocrites !

  2. Chris Kitcher April 12, 2020 at 8:40 am - Reply

    It’s so simple to understand.

    Central to the Tory economic philosophy is that the vast majority of the population have to be kept in poverty or at best very poor. This is based on their knowledge that if the vast majority of the population do not have to spend their waking hours worrying about how they are going to survive day to day, they may start to question why those who have too munch are not sharing it more equitably.

  3. Hecuba April 12, 2020 at 11:49 am - Reply

    You can all starve say the fascist tories because our DWP works for us not you impoverished women and men!

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