Do Council workers deliberately try to trick people?
By RieRie
@RieRie (820)
July 10, 2009 10:04am CST
I had a visit about Housing Benefit not long ago, first of all I had the letter saying a representative will visit on whatever day between 8 and 12.30 (the most inconvenient times for most people), please have your passport, proof of earnings (wageslips basically) and a bank statement ready.
I had all these things, the lady came and wrote stuff down, then told me she needed the last 5 wage slips from before I went onto sick pay (I don't know why, that was 6 months ago & last time they only needed my last 5 wage slips, but this time I gave her 6 just in case.)
I couldn't find them, so she gave me a certificate of earnings for work to fill in the last 5 wages before SSP.
4 days later, which is enough time for me to ask someone to get the form filled in and take it to the council offices (luckily I hadn't done this yet) I had a letter saying not only do they want wageslips, they also want my P60, which wasn't mentioned at all before the letter.
So do the council ask for extra things on purpose to try and trick people out of being able to receive benefits that they actually need or is it that they are just incompetent?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@thelast2walk (26)
• Romania
10 Jul 09
hy..mostly they are just incompetent and try to piss people off...i don't know why,but it's like this all over the globe.they like to push people to the edge of their patience and then if you may talk to them on an arrogant or nervous tone they even get cocky with you acting like you would have no reason to be nervous for...
2 people like this
@nannacroc (4049)
•
10 Jul 09
Council workers in the offices are a law unto themselves. You're lucky they sent you the letter four days later, it's normally four months before they tell you they can't deal with your claim because they haven't got the right information.
Just do what they ask and hope they can sort it before Christmas.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
10 Jul 09
It's perhaps a bit of both in your case. There are standard requirements in most cases with a list of optional ones which they can require in order to check that people are being straight with them.
The fact is, unfortunately, that many people do try to get benefits dishonestly and while I am sure that you are not, the less straightforward your case sounds to the authorities, the more hoops you may be made to jump through in order to get what you want (and deserve). Since there are so many complicated checks to be made, it often happens that one person can forget what is needed and have to ask for it later.
All in all, it can be very frustrating for the applicant and it certainly appears that the 'system' is against you but, really, it is not like that. The 'system' does take it's time and does have to try to protect itself. You have to understand that they don't know that you are honest and so have to judge every case on its merits. The only way to deal with it is to patiently complete all the tasks they set (remember all the fairy stories where the guy has to complete three impossible tasks to gain the princess' hand!) and to sigh resignedly when they set even more and just complete them with a smile!
1 person likes this
