To take a job with the DWP even though I will lose friends

Someone who ever says « I won’t be your friend anymore if….. -anything judgemental- » is already not your friend…

There is nothing immoral in you working hard for your family. To have ethics in a place that does have a bad reputation for some takes courage. Your friends should see the efforts you are making and support you.

good luck in your new job 👌🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Lose the « friend » take the job, congratulations, true friends would never judge you based on what you decided to work at in order to keep yourself and your family well looked after xx

I think that's the point... Not to you specifically at all :) but so many think they understand what the dwp do. The majority of people haven't got a clue what the people of the dwp actually do, evidenced by a lot on this thread

Personally I wouldn't want to work for an organisation I didn't feel was in sync with my personal ethics and values - but I appreciate that I have the luxury of being in a financial position that enables me to do that.

Havent read every post but take the job

You don't need their permission.

P. S, would this one friend in particular, the super wealthy one, pay you the difference in income so that you could stay in your present job? No? Thought not. She/he is not a true friend.

Wow, your friend’s opinion and your own, of the DWP is incredibly insulting. There are issues across the civil service, there are some people working specifically at DWP who I don’t doubt are not good at their job, but there are also hard working people who are absolutely trying their best to undertake their role at the DWP.

I think the job is probably a good secure option for you and your children, but your distain for the department and your potential future colleagues makes it sounds like you wouldn’t be a good fit. One of the biggest issues in civil service departments at the moment is employees not engaging with their work, lack of understanding of the bigger picture and fighting (non-constructively) against the department that employs them.

I’d suggest not taking up the job offer if you have such distain for a potential employer.

Take the job would be my advice. Real friends will remain your friends, fair weather ones will drop you anyway when it suits them, don’t be led by them.

A true friend would never blackmail you or use conditional friendship tactics - how old is she? 9?. She sounds an idiot and unless she wants to pay your bills, she can do one. Her opinions don't put food on your table and she is not a friend

When I started work for dwp, people distanced themselves. I was fine with this and started to watch them - I have no issues with reporting them if they are cheating the system. Tax payers money, we are paying for people to cheat.

So the people you know - are they legitimate?

But, just as a heads up. The press about dwp is true. There's a lot of dwp c/s claiming uc and working as the pay is poor. There's bullying that is everyday. There is a really big divide/gulf. So if you have a higher level job, pay will be fine. But beware of civil service politics (and I dont meant government ones). Go in with your eyes wide open.

It's a straightforward equation: you've bills to pay, it's better money and a pension, so go for it girl!

Thumbs up to your conscience, but you can't live on fresh air and altruism. Pragmatism has to win in the end.

“Would I really be that awful a person to sell out and take this job?”

Grow up. Everyone needs to work to pay their bills and that’s all you’re doing. Your friend is a moron threatening to disown you for taking a job because they don’t like it - if you never hear from them again, good riddance!

There are those who want to stand on the sidelines of life passing criticism, and there are those who roll up their sleeves, get involved, and change things that need changing. Do take the job. Your friends sound authoritarian and quite disturbingly narrow-minded.

If your rich friend inherited money as you say, then almost certainly one of their ancestors did something deeply immoral and exploitative to get those riches. Also, if they are so concerned about social justice they should give up their trust fund and hand it to the poor. Loaded lefties rarely put their money where their mouth is. I used to work with loads of them and they are very much in favour of sacrifices for the sake of social justice so long as it’s other people making them.

@Girlssjustwanttohavefun I'd just like to say that when my late husband was assessed back in the day (before PIP) after having a mental health breakdown, he was treated with great sensitivity and calmess by the man who was his assessor, though of course the various questions had to be asked. Obviously the interview was very stressful for DH and it was visibly very clear that it was so. But I was very grateful to the staff member, and at the end, as I was leading my shaking husband out, I mouthed an emotional 'thank you' to the guy.

It wasn't his fault that his department insisted on putting my husband through that rather than accept his GP and psychiatrist's reports. I imagine that he hated having to do it, but there we are.

My voluntary work is with asylum seekers. I hate the Home Office and its (lack of) values with a passion. But I've met a fair few immigration officers in my role, and they're just human beings trying to earn a wage and keep a roof over their families' heads. I wanted to dislike them but I couldn't. And there's no way I'd dump a friend who needed a job and was offered one there. I'd just hope that she could gain experience quickly that would mean that she could get a more satisfying role in the future.

Congratulations on your job @Sunsnet , and your 'friend' dumping you will be no loss

Well you're talking to one right now and I can tell you how upsetting and offensive it is when people too ignorant to expand their mind to think weirdly, people are not all the same. There's job centres, fraud teams, organised crime, pension teams, national insurance etc. A lot of us work really hard to provide a good service and protect the money people pay into the system for it to be directed at the most vulnerable in society. While getting called a c word, threatened, followed and assaulted by claimants.

I too have had unpleasant experiences with the dwp while working there and not, so I get it. There's arseholes everywhere.

So open your mind, eyes, whatever you like and realise that there are plenty of people who are literally putting themselves in danger to try and make the few people they personally deal with lives easier.

Maybe not all of them, but as a fellow disabled person I know exactly where @WalkingonWheels is coming from, and given that we are two random strangers on the internet, and it’s well documented how gruelling and harsh the PIP process is, I’d say it’s a pretty common occurrence.

They are trained in how to deal with PIP claims, and either they follow policy, which means every single one has to be the same, or they don’t, which goes against near enough every poster on this thread claiming they are just doing as they’re told.

Do you think every single dwp does that or something?

But surely if the OP is a good, honest person that's exactly what she'll do? And in doing so, be the kind of person these roles need more of

Alternatively, they could treat disabled people like human beings and not subject them to humiliating, traumatic experiences while giving them the support they need. How about that?

I absolutely am bitter and judgemental and for very good reason

Then sack them all and you’d get nothing?

Good idea really we could ban all benefit, put people out on the street and save millions.

I absolutely am bitter and judgemental and for very good reason. I wouldn't be friends with a Tory either.

I take issue when they literally twist everything people say to avoid giving an award even though it’s clear from the evidence provided that they aren’t a liar. I understand going by the outsourced assessment reports, but the atol assessors are ill qualified, and they still refuse at mandatory reconsideration around 80% of the time.

The fact that 70% of independent appeals over turn the original decision speaks volumes. They are counting on people not taking their claims to appeal because they are too anxious, or lack the knowledge or capacity to go to appeal to challenge them, and even if only a small percentage don’t go that far, it’s a few hundred pounds a week saved for them!