is my local council being unreasonable?

[VelvetChairGirl]

they have no phone number to call except an automated phone line that takes you thru steps, no way to inquire about something and talk to a human.

they want everything done via a website paying for things, registering for things etc, there is no chat facility on the website.

so to inquire/query anything you have to go into the council office and queue up.

do most councils work like this now?

I have got a strange letter today that seems to be saying they will no longer give me housing benefit because I am a job seekers allowance claimant. it is a very odd letter its just a calculated letter saying what my rent is, and saying what my HB will be from April i.e 0 and it says reason for change, claiming Job seekers allowance.

I have G.A.D anyway this isnt helping having to go in there tomorrow when I could have helped my anxierty now by phoning them up but no, I will probably get no sleep tonight.

Ours prefer that you do everything online but they still have a number that you can call and talk to a person.

Ours is the same - no hope of getting a human being,

@Whitefire

Yes, it is incredibly infuriating. Add in that most councils staff are still WFH and fobbing people off with excuses about delays.*

Online only seems to be the way. A colleague had a frustrating call today with DWP and trying to explain that Mrs Blogs did not have internet access, did not have a mobile phone and only had an old style landline phone.

It is absolutely shit for anyone without internet access and whilst understandably things dropped during covid, they are showing no signs of improving. I still have to book a slot to go to the tip.

• I had a VM today which was interrupted half way through by a dog barking and I did an online seminar this afternoon with most people being in a LA - 78% of participants were WFH

My council required most staff to WFH at least one day pw pre-Covid. They closed an office to save money, and only having 80% of the staff in at a time enabled that.

They're now closing and selling another building, and only 50% of staff will be in the office at any time, with the other 50% WFH.

I'd rather they did that than cut frontline services, tbh.

I agree that letters are confusing and most councils and other organisations are much harder to contact now. I don’t think there is any phasing out of hb for people on legacy benefits I suspect it’s an update letter because it’s the end of the financial year you might get another one with the new figures in it shortly but do ring and usually if you press enough buttons you get through to someone eventually. Good luck

My council is the same (Waltham Forest). They have made themselves totally inaccessible by phone, and 98% inaccessible online.

@Whitefire

Yes, it is incredibly infuriating. Add in that most councils staff are still WFH and fobbing people off with excuses about delays.*

Online only seems to be the way. A colleague had a frustrating call today with DWP and trying to explain that Mrs Blogs did not have internet access, did not have a mobile phone and only had an old style landline phone.

It is absolutely shit for anyone without internet access and whilst understandably things dropped during covid, they are showing no signs of improving. I still have to book a slot to go to the tip.

• I had a VM today which was interrupted half way through by a dog barking and I did an online seminar this afternoon with most people being in a LA - 78% of participants were WFH

I hope you understand that this is because many Councils are deciding to sell off or repurpose their buildings. This means in many instances there are not enough desks for staff. This isn’t a case of useless council workers slacking off at home, it is the case that council workers have no other choice and frequently also have to provide their own equipment to do this and will need to replace it at their own expense when it goes wrong.

I work professionally with local council workers, we are struggling as professionals to get things done as people are pretty much impossible to pin down. There has been major shortcomings. If we are struggling then Joe Public stands no chance.

Oh and I had to use my own laptop which had to be replaced.

here is an update.

I cant go into the council office without an appointment, the security guard looked at my letter he thinks its asking me to provide proof I am still on JSA he isnt sure, he told me to call them again and said I just have to keep playing their games, someone will have to answer the phone eventually, or try talking to the job centre maybe they can help.

I went home and tried to call again, zero options that let you talk to a human everything says go on the website, I tried pressing 0 and it automatically said goodbye and hung up on me, I tried again pressing # and it did the same thing.

I went back o the website and tried again clicking every housing benefit option, it either looped back round to the front page asking what council service you want or asked for me to log in/ create a housing benefit account, which after I filled out the details and pressed next said everytime an error has occurred try again later or details not recognized (on 3 different forms I suppose, log in, create account and appeal a decision).

so I have emailed the only email address on the website for housing benefit, which is the email for submitting documents to support a claim. I am now going to search for the details of my MP and email them or phone but I doubt theres a phone number, and I am going to go to the job centre tomorrow with the letter to see if they have any idea what its about.

@Onlyforcake

Most councils have had to go to bare bones (and less) operations. There are significantly less staff dealing with even less of a budget. Been the case since 2008 austerity cuts are still rolling.

This! The department I started in had 110 people in 2008, now about 40. The workload has only gone up in that time. Everything possible has had to be automated.

Why not write them a letter? You could upload it to their online system to save you the stamp

Tried to call city council with enquiry about student council tax exemption. Patiently pressed my way through 23 options. Got to 24th option, “student information”. Heard “thank you for calling “blah” city council. Goodbye”. brrrrr.

🤯

You can send an email to your MP and your local councillors at www.writetothem.com/ - just put in your postcode and it will find out who your local representatives are and give you a form that you complete with the text of your email, and they receive it and reply direct back to your email address or by letter.

My job involves working with councils, and there are still some councils which don’t have a system in place to divert calls to staff working from home. That’s probably why you can’t ever get to speak to anyone.

Do the calculations still show that you are entitled to Housing Benefit from April? There should be a page which shows the calculation which will show what income you are using.

It sounds like the automatically generated letter showing entitlement for the new financial year. The wording you have quoted is exactly the wording on the Capita Academy assessment software that a lot of councils use.

If you can't get through to someone by phone, or check an online account I agree with pp to get a councillor to double check everything is alright.

instead (?) I get a random calculation letter with my council tax and housing benefit number on it, with no department written on it other then council office address, no phone numbers, emails or anything, its like they want everyone queuing up confused at their office.

Is there no header or footer on the letter?

What council is it? Someone might have a contact there.

Can you put a photo on here with your personal info covered?

Email and copy your councillor in (not MP they are unrelated).
Services are underfunded, IT systems and phone systems are poor quality and officers are forced to work from home because buildings are being sold off to prevent bankruptcy. Lots of professionals, such as IT are leaving for better pay in the private sector.
It’s all a consequence of inadequate funding, remember that next time you vote.

@BuanoKubiamVej

You can send an email to your MP and your local councillors at www.writetothem.com/ - just put in your postcode and it will find out who your local representatives are and give you a form that you complete with the text of your email, and they receive it and reply direct back to your email address or by letter.

already sent it thanks.

but that site having the councillors on it is useful to, I will keep a hold o that, my MP tends to be good tho she does reply to things.

@girlmom21

instead (?) I get a random calculation letter with my council tax and housing benefit number on it, with no department written on it other then council office address, no phone numbers, emails or anything, its like they want everyone queuing up confused at their office.

Is there no header or footer on the letter?

What council is it? Someone might have a contact there.

Ealing

What number have you called?

020 8825 7000 this one?

CAB are good with this kind of thing.

How to spread Covid, or in normal times, winter flu. Get people to go into an office and queue when you could speak on the phone.

YANBU.

@FTB2022

Do the calculations still show that you are entitled to Housing Benefit from April? There should be a page which shows the calculation which will show what income you are using.

It sounds like the automatically generated letter showing entitlement for the new financial year. The wording you have quoted is exactly the wording on the Capita Academy assessment software that a lot of councils use.

If you can't get through to someone by phone, or check an online account I agree with pp to get a councillor to double check everything is alright.

the only thing about calculations on the website show the caps in how much you can get, my rent is within them.

and it says Normally, if you have savings of more than £16,000 you are not eligible to claim housing benefit.

I dont have 16k

nothing has changed since I made the claim a few years ago.

@girlmom21

What number have you called?

020 8825 7000 this one?

yes

You are lucky you can actually go into the council offices. Ours are closed, the doors festooned with tape.

You cannot phone, only email and the email is central and it states it is checked periodically. The online portal did not work and when I emailed, I received a reply to “make my complaint via online portal” - but I couldn’t get on the online portal!

I agree that a local councillor should help you. They are paid in many cases very handsomely for doing not a lot (it’s a second/retirement job for most) eg in Manchester £17k as a basic then they get extra-responsibility allowances - so make your councillor earn their crust!!