Is the DSS run by idiots or what??

[bluebedouin]

mm,check your inbox.bb!

[Cocksparrer]

The DSS can be unthoughtful at times, they claim they want people to go back to work, but for those who have been unable to work due to any illness or disabilities, they tend to harass those people more than any other sector of society, Look at those druggies out there selling, buying & using. If they had no income then they would have to get a job, yet its those & other socialites that find a loophole in the system and take advantage of that and never bother to work at all. The system is run just like the government, no brains no gains.

[stitchysyl]

The Pension Service aren't to clever either...

I reached the 'official' retirement age eighteen months ago. I tjought...officially retired, just get my pension and no more hassle...WRONG!!!

I had a small personal pension taken out yonks ago. But because of the cancer, I couldn't get a top up pension, as they were linked to life insurances, and I couldn't pass the criteria...having cancer.
When the Stakeholder scheme came into place I managed to find a pension not linked to life insurance but I have to wait until I am 65 to benefit from it.

Anyway, because the small pension was so small, I was paid a small lump sum, around £2000., final payment with no further payments. (new government policy)

The pension service decided that as I had been paid a lump sum that I had deprived myself of a weekly pension payment and docked my state pension accordingly. (bear in mind that the pension payments would have been less than £4 per month)

twelve months later, I receive a letter from them asking me for details of all the pension payments I had received during the year and for statements from my pension company.

Of course, I had received no payments, and I had no pension company.
I phoned them to explain and was told that they shouldn't be taking money off me for a pension I didn't have...

They sent me a refund, albeit not a total refund, and stopped taking the money off me.

Lets hope thats the end of it.

I know that the staff at these government depts have difficulties keeping up with the constant changes in government legislation and rules...but surely common sense should prevail some of the time.

[stitchysyl]

i gave up trying to claim i spent a hour walking around birmingham trying to find the place last week to appeal my decision , not very clever has i suffer bad back pain cannot afford taxi`s has i get no income and wife can`t afford time off work to take me has her income just about covers bills so had to endure 30 minute ride on tram (standing all the way has no seats available) then a hour walking up and down hills trying to find place ( i give up )

I know how you feel...its sometimes just easier to give up. Its awful that people who are at their lowest, and not up to all the hassle, are subjected to their tactics.

My doctor gets really angry. He objects to them questioning whether he is competent to assess whether his patients are fit for work. He is a trained professional and able to see whether someone is ill or not...thats his job and for the DSS to pull people in to assess them implies that they don't trust his judgement...so its not just us poor claimants that get frustrated by the system.

[merlin]

I know how you feel...its sometimes just easier to give up. Its awful that people who are at their lowest, and not up to all the hassle, are subjected to their tactics.

My doctor gets really angry. He objects to them questioning whether he is competent to assess whether his patients are fit for work. He is a trained professional and able to see whether someone is ill or not...thats his job and for the DSS to pull people in to assess them implies that they don't trust his judgement...so its not just us poor claimants that get frustrated by the system.

i have even given up my pension rights i no longer send medical certificates ( waste of my time the only thing i get are my n.i . contributions paid )if my doctor says i am unable to work then that should be all they need , most of my family don`t live long enough to draw pension so i possibly not going to lose much , i`m not going to kill myself to get a few quid pointless me keep trying

[Cocksparrer]

You can try the Child Benefits Agency oh they are a laugh indeed. I have been battleing with them now for 9 years. Told them who my son's father was gave job details, NI number and all sorts of other information, He made only 2 payments over the last 9 years totaling £113. towards the upkeep of his son. (No he doesnt see his son but thats another story I took him to court for . Anyhow every year without fail I send forms to the CSA regarding my son;s father and are they interested in chasing him up for the money he owes for the Tax payers to assist in paying for his son's upkeep, good job I have a job, otherwise I wouldn't know how to survive.

So why won't they chase him up dammit the man has a son & should assist in paying for his son's upkeep but nooooooooooooooooooooooo

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

My mother applied for disability a few years ago and they treated her horrendously (I am assuming it is the same way the tribunals treat everyone). She has been on antidepressants for over 40 years, hardly surprising after everything she went through in life. She has agrophobia (sp?), diabetes, brittle asthma, and arthritis so bad in her fingers that her knuckles are just solid lumps that won't allow her to straighten her fingers. She also has panic attacks at the thought of having a conversation with anyone outside her immediate family. Her GPs letter said no way she could work, but of course, the panel knew oh-so-much better. They stopped her money, insisted she went out to work, even though she had stopped working nearly 35 years before on health grounds and she was now less than a year off retirement age. She was badly depressed before the Benefits Agency started with her, she was not far off suicidal by the time they had finished.

Don't even get me started on the CSA. I have heard nightmares, and it took me two years for them to get anything off my ex, and because of their cock-ups, my local MP got me nearly a grand in compensation. It took another five years for me to get regular payments, even though my ex had lived in the same house for nearly 20 years, had the same job for 20 years etc. My neighbour spent a year working for the CSA, and got another job because she hated it. She hated seeing the resident parents getting messed about, and she was scared of turning into the rest of the people there - she said once they had been there a certain length of time, the staff stopped giving a sh*t about the job, about whether because of their administration kids were going without stuff, she said the staff just ended up in the "couldn't-care-less" syndrome that the older workers had.

It is all just a hateful system. My idea of being rich is to have enough money coming in to never have to go grovelling to anyone in the administration of state benefits ever again.