To be worried about someone I don't even know

[Edlyu]

I take calls from people who claim benefits and help them navigate their way around benefits & understand the rules for claiming etc.

I dont process any benefits so can only signpost them to where their problem lies . Mostly my help is all that's needed but sometimes its beyond anything I can effectively do. Most days I have crying people trying to hold it together to describe their awful circumstances and often have to tell them that sadly there is nothing I can do and that there will be no money forthcoming for some time due to the processing of information etc. It makes me so annoyed that people with no experience of being on benefits blithely uphold what the government is doing based solely on whatever the daily mail chooses to portray.

But I do my job well and help where i can . I try to keep one step apart from the callers as I just cant take on so much sadness on top of my own day to day worries.

But.

I took a call yesterday that I cant get out of my mind. Its was from a man in his 50's who lived alone and had had his benefits stopped for not doing enough to seek work. He said it was a mistake on the part of the work trial provider who didnt give the information to him in a way the jobcentre could access. He spends his week looking for work in a supervised situation so this should all be documented by them.This is what they are paid to do.

For this offence he had a sanction placed on his benefit. This means he gets no money at all for the period of the sanction. In this case it is 4 weeks . That is NO money at all. So no food or any way of paying for heat. He is not allowed to get a crisis loan and has been refused a hardship payment. His housing benefit has stopped and he has no family in the area.

I tried to signpost him to foodbanks and the salvation army but he said he would rather die than be reduced to this. I offered to find contact details of his MP so he can try to get some help from him but he said he couldnt access a computer to do this .

This is a far as I could go on the phone but his beaten voice just haunts me . He wasnt crying -just downtrodden and without hope that he would have food or heat any time in the near future. He lives in a relatively affluent area near the south coast and I am so troubled that behind a clean and presentable front door someone is slowly starving and is very cold tonight .

And yes, I AM trying to help her fight this! Taking her to the MP surgery on Monday morning, once DC's at school.

Merry. Would they not accept paperwork from the hospital to prove she was there?

I was just about to suggest the Daily Mail myself fuckwittery. They've spent enough time and energy benefit bashing this week, it's time they put they're airtime to good use.

I think first ports of call are local councillors, MPs and papers .... thats how you get things to go national.

DM is actually pretty good at highlighting the extremes of 'the system' - they do highlight a lot of cases for ex servicemen in particular who have trouble making ends meet, and pensioners too. I know thats at odds when they have pop at the likes of the woman this week.

fuckwittery the paperwork was a list of all the jobs he had applied for on the work providers own print out. He should have used the one the jobcentre gave him but the provider said the list was all he needed. Turns out they were wrong.

Unfortunately I doubt very much that the media would take the slightest interest in this as there is rarely a day goes by that someone doesnt threaten to go to the papers about their ill treatment . I have yet to read one article that covers this side of benefits.

Well I don't know - media will be interested if there is another angle - ex service (they do like a bit of gulf War or Afghanistan) - also in a 'slow news week' they will print stories like this.

Call me a bit simplistic, but food is a basic human right? Even if benefits are suspended, then provision should be made for some one to be fed by a charity, even if the job centre has to issue a meal token. I know it's humiliating but its better than starving.

To the lady up the thread, with children in the same situation - school or SS will help there.

I think it is fantastic you are planning to do something for him. Practical help, and the message that someone does care, could make the difference between him wanting to live and not. You are the kind of person that makes people's days brighter x

Thanks holly. I have free school meals (except this week when they've been off! And son being investigated for SN...one of his big issues being food so won't take school meals so has packed lunch...whole other thread!)

I'm just about scraping through but can't hold on much longer... £71 a week jsa here too plus the kindness of my family, friends and food vouchers! I completely understand this mans reluctance to take the food voucher. It feels utterly humiliating and I absolutely never thought I would be in this position when you have worked all of your life and through circumstances beyond your control you end up relying on charity to feed your children.

It's been a rough week job searching while the children have been off school...terrified that i'll be sanctioned by jsa for not putting sufficient effort into my job search and having nothing to live off. It's grim times here.

I will make strides to get something to his door at least. Does anyone know if a supermarket delivery will also carry a note?

For tesco you can put the delivery instructions. I've used this to add a note when I did a similar thing, the difference being this was a friend and she knew I was sending it.

What a sad, sad story. I also think sending a supermarket card would be a good idea. Can you google where he lives to see where his nearest one is so that you know it's a place he could get to easily.

Also another thing you could try is contacting his local vicar. I think that vicars are responsible for everyone in their parish not just church attenders and he/she might be able to knock and speak to this man, maybe have a chat about foodbanks etc and I know that some churches also put on lunch clubs etc for people in need.

Poor man. I am not sure quite how the govt can justify essentially leaving someone to starve as surely if you have no money for 4 weeks and no-one to help you out that is what would ultimately happen.

Agree with Hollyberrybush that if there are sanctions there should at least be some way of making sure that people can feed themselves for that period even if it is food vouchers etc.

I'm so shocked by some of the stories on this thread. I just can't believe people are being penalised for such ridiculous mistakes. Why us it always the people who are most in need who get hit by these changes.

Can I just add that another option is local papers and particularly your BBC local radio station? They all have political reporters and would definitely cover stories like this because they often struggle to highlight how changes affect those most in need.

Edlyu you sound like an amazing person. Your callers are lucky to have you on the other side of the phone.

OP: I have done a very similar job and I think YANBU for worrying, but IMO it would be best to let it be.

If he really can't bear to lower himself to even THINKING ABOUT going to a food bank for £30-40 quid worth of food - things can't be that bad. If he was previously better off, he more than likely has a small cushion to live off or friends/family to support him. In this scenario I doubt a gesture from you would be required. Cynical I know but people really do find ways to get by all the time, he is not unique. If you are that desperate then pride will not get in the way of a good meal. You have offered him the options to keep himself going till this is sorted, food bank, sally army, etc, and it is up to him to choose to accept them or not.

As an aside, he can reclaim housing benefit straight away if he has no other money coming in. So he can either live off that or use it to not go into arrears with the rent. This applies to anyone whose out of work benefit has been stopped be it jobseeker's, income support, ESA etc, if they have no other major income (child tax credits doesn't count I don't think), they can go straight to the council and reapply for backdated Housing Benefit from date of stoppage due to change of circumstances with a bank statement/mini printout to prove no income, as it is solely based on the money you have coming in.

From what you put, he has lost his entitlement to jobseeker's allowance through no fault of his own and needs to appeal the sanction, appeal the refusal of hardship payment and get a crisis loan in the meantime. He is entitled to a loan no matter what he has said to you unless he has borrowed hugely before, and I really doubt the emergency hotline would turn down someone with 0 income! Even then you call back, get someone different and try again till you get the money. Just like when your delivery doesn't arrive or your shopping goes manky before the BBE.

You have a choice, you can have your heart broken every day or you can assume that the people calling you are adults who, for the most part, can manage their own affairs and seek out help when they need it rather than looking to a complete stranger to rescue them. By and large people are resourceful and can, and will, survive rough patches like this man is going through. I have sympathy, but I cannot be everyone's mum and go in guns blazing for everyone I talk to. You are there to equip them with information to do that themselves, and that is all you CAN do.

I think that for your own sake you need to take a step back from the people you talk to on the phone and not get too involved emotionally, because it DOES start to affect you psychologically after a while, and you do get very stressed, especially when you never meet the people you talk to and have no follow up or closure. You simply can not be a bottomless well of sympathy all day every day without it affecting you.

I would be cautious about contacting him privately if I were you - not sure what you do or where you work but data protection law would worry me. Imagine also if his neighbours started asking why he got a food parcel / Ocado delivery and who the note was from (you don't know if he'll even be in, after all) - if he's too ashamed to go to a food bank then how would that make him feel?

If you really need to assuage your worry and guilt and you happen to work for the DWP, get involved, campaign politically, write to the man's MP citing an 'anonymous' caller, and leak the story (without any personal details) to the papers. The Mirror I believe ran an ex-ATOS nurse's expose of how badly ESA claimants were treated by ATOS staff and it did get Parliament attention.

I am probably going to have the entire thread come down on me like a ton of bricks now. Oh well. If it helps, I am living off rice and reduced veg at the moment as I am waiting for my DLA claim to go through. 11 weeks and counting...!

Slurping I think it is dangerous to assume pride holds people back from asking for help. There are all sorts of reasons that prevent people getting help they need and are entitled to.

Slurping. No bricks here. I think that was a very sensible post. I found the OP very sad and can imagine how much OP felt affected

I can also believe that a 50 yr old adult would feel downtrodden and depressed by the situation. OP does risk falling foul of Data P Act and causing a huge fall out. I think your point about not knowing the full story or consequences once the phone goes down is a good one.

This guy may need charity. It is there and OP would be better to let him accept it on his terms rather than send it in in good faith but against his expressed wish

Very good post slurping. I feel as selfish as it sounds OP it would be very unwise to get swept away with this and find your self in some very hot water maybe even risking your job.

I too agree this man will and should access the appropriate help. He should never be in this situation granted, but please allow him to do what he needs to do for himself and access the help you have suggested.

Do not, repeat, do not get personally involved.

No good will come of it.

The appendix situation sounds odd. I would have though a sick line with "emergency appendicectomy" for the dates she was too unwell to work or go to interviewswould have covered that.
In the OP it's hard to know whether or not the bloke is stretching the truth. If I was unemployed I would feel it was my responsibility to do exactly what I had to do to get payments. No-one else is going to prioritise my interests as much as I am. It's easy to blame the work trial provider who can't give his/ her side of the story.
If someone says they'd rather die than use foodbanks or the salvation army I'd think them a bit melodramatic. I'd use foodbanks and the salvation army whilst I appealed against the decision and got it sorted.
I think you do have to let other people's problems be other people's problems in your line of work. If you can't you'll just get more and more unhappy.
You pointed him towards emergency food and housing and presumably told him how to appeal. If he lives in an affluent area and previously had a job it's unlikely his heating in on a coin meter so he shouldn't have heating cut off.
It sounds like a sad mess, but if you start making these messes your problem to sort out you'll not last much longer in the job.

No I agree don't get involved. Seriously - he is a grown up. He can choose to seek more help. Hewill feel ashamed to receive charity from you I imagine, as much as I understand your wanting to do something.

Agree totally with slurping. If this guy is too proud to use foodbanks etc then he absolutely will not thank anybody for taking his story to the press.

Presumably he's hoping to work again, and will not want future clients or employers being able to Google him doing DM sadface.

He will have options. It's tough, but he will not starve. I would say, keep out of it.

slurping Thank you for your input . I agree with some of what you wrote and it was partially why I started this thread. im not everyones mum and I really do try to keep myself one step removed from the callers . I average 60 calls per day and many are in a similar vein.

However , from their notes and their voices I can generally tell if im being spun a tale. Its a recurring complaint that the person hasnt eaten in 3 days for example but if they live with family this is unlikely. I know that people exaggerate to try for the sympathy vote .Its human nature, but ive been doing this job for 10 years and this is the first time I wanted to help in this way.This man sounded so beaten by his experiences that it just resonated with me.

Crisis loans cannot be paid for a period of sanction -even when the sanction is spent but the reason there is no money is because of the sanction there will still be no loan awarded . This chap was denied hardship but I can't remember what the reason was . He can appeal against the decision but appeals take time as decision makers are snowed under and the sanction period may be spent by the time any money finally filters through.

I won't contact him myself but I am going to explore foodbanks and churches in his area to see what , if anything, they can do.