Frustrating Government Departments.

[eidsvold]

Does anyone else find that government departments speak to you sa if you are stupid when you call to sort something out or get advice?

Over the past two weeks I have had an ongoing battle with Social Security, Child Benefit and Inland revenue. Basically when I started a permanent job in the UK my employer did a search for a National Insurance number and they were given a number and told to use it for me.( have dual citizenship) It turns out - after applying for child benefit ( sept 2002) and hearing nothing until I called to find out what was taking so long ( jan 2003) that I had been given someone elses NI number and they had merged someone elses details and mine. Quite a mess. Is Child Benefit that slow in replying to applications. After I had called, they finally sent a form to state that I was unable to receive Child Benefit as I had not supplied a NI number. ( I had - it just belonged to someone else - unbeknown to me and probably totally unbeknown to her)

First of all, child benefit told me a number of lies regarding contacting me months ago and contacting the local office to do something about it. If one more person goes on about me needing an interview to get a NI number I will scream. 98% of the people I spoke to about this matter - replied to me as if I was brain dead and had no comprehension of the English Language. (Australian and until recently teaching English to A Level in an English school) NI office kept telling me that there was no way I was given someone else's number - it just does not happen.

Finally on Friday I spoke to a woman at Inland Revenue who told me she would sort it out and that I had been given a dispensation ( don't have to wait 2 - 4 months ) to get the new NI number quickly. Social Security would not even give me an interview until I packed my daughter into the car and toddled off to the office and asked to speak to someone. They wanted to keep investigating the matter.

Some other poor woman has had her NI file mucked up through an Inland Revenue mistake and has no idea. They basically superimposed my details - married name, new address etc on her file. We shared the same name except for middle name and the same date of birth. The surname was her married name but my maiden name. I can honestly say in the last two weeks I have spoken to 30 plus people to try and sort this out. One person tells you to do one thing, another ( in the same office) tells you something different.

Talk about frustrating.

The scary thing is - a man at Inland Revenue tells me this is quite common but some people do not find out for 20 years or more that they may have been sharing a NI number or using the wrong number.

Sorry to rave but this has been a very very frustrating two weeks. I finally have an interview on 12 february ( soonest they could fit me in)

Forgot to add - I did have one moment of levity. My dd (5 1/2 mths) has discovered raspberry blowing and was loudly blowing away whilst I was on the phone to one pillock. He kept interrupting what he was saying to listen to her. I am sure he thought it was me with a flatulence problem!!

I've just suffered similar with Jobcentre Plus. I've just registered as unemployed - in my area this means a phone call from you to them and then an in depth phone from them to you (45 minutes phone interview) and they made a right hash of it. The next stage is a face to face 'what sort of job can you do' interview but when I got there they couldn't even be bothered to take my name and then wondered why there was an attendant sat waiting for her customer. I was handed a form to fill in which should have been sent by post and asked to check a 26 page form before my appointment could begin. My 45 minute appointment was therefore cut to around 20 minutes and the amount of information I received was virtually nil. I still don't know how much money I am entitled to or when I get it and don't know anything about the rules and regulations other than I must be available for work and actively seeking work (and keep a diary to prove it!). I'm sure they make things difficult to put people off claiming, it certainly seems that way.

eidsvoid, I thought my experience of getting an ni number was a nightmare, but it sounds tame compared to yours. I too have dual citizenship (usa/italian). When I was pregnant with my ds, I decided to get a job. The agencies all told me I need to get a ni number, so I called social security. They said I couldn't get an ni number until I had a job. I said that once I had a job, I would have far less time to be able to come for an interview for my ni number. They said too bad. So I got a job and set up an interview. However, the job was temporary and only lasted 5 weeks. It was over by the time I was ready for the interview, so they wouldn't give me the ni number as I no longer had a job. Then when I had my ds, I was told that I needed an ni number to collect child benefit. So I had to load newborn and c-section scarred body down to social security for an interview. Answered lots of impossible questions (how many times and when had I been to England during my entire life....I am 39 and have been in and out of england several times a year for my whole life...) and thought I had finally finished. However, I got a letter 2 months later saying their was a discrepancy in my paperwork and I had to come in again. Turned out my nhs card had an incorrect birthdate for me. Although they had a copy of my passport with my correct birthdate, I still had to go in and sign an affadavit swearing to my correct birthdate. 2 months later I finally got my ni number and many months of backdated child benefit. But once I got another job it took another 4 months to get off the "emergency" tax rate...Good luck!!

Now you have me worried Sofia - I was told as I was applying for benefits that it would not take two months for my number to come through. According to the helpful person in IR I should receive it almost immediately so they can transfer my NI contributions from my previous employments to my own file and untangle my personal details from the other woman's file. I have done that preliminary thing - with how many times have you been to the UK etc. I just need to take all my documents next. IT seems like they are unable to think outside a frame - tick the box get the details and then check the list for the next thing!!!

OH Pam - i agree with you.. it seems they go out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible - the local job centre where I had to go to speak to the Social Security woman was almost deserted and I could not understand why possible I could not have an appointment then. There were more staff than clients there - two security men, the receptionist and two civil servants - two other people and me!!

When dd1 got an NI number they nmuddled her up with me, OK we had the same surname and lived at the same address ???!!! I dread to think what will happen in the future as dd2 has the same intials as me (all 3 plus surname).

Don't get me started on Government departments, I could rave forever. I got left on the emergency tax number for a year. The only good bit was I got a heafty refund when I needed it most.

The Home Office is the worst. A friend of mine who is an immigration lawyer told me that a few years ago they found a room full of records. Apparantly asbestos had been discovered there ten or more years ago and they just sealed the room and forgot about it. The Home Office managed to lose my application for residency, along with my passport, then threatened to deport me when my visa ran out, which would have been difficult since they had my passoprt the whole time.

slug, when Kiwi DH and I got engaged a friend gave us a copy of a book by the JCWI (?Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants). It explained a lot about the immigration process.

The last couple fo chapters covered applications to become UK citizens and said that anyone who had applied more than 2-3 years previously was advised by UK Govt to re-apply as their paperwork had been lost.

I'd suspected a fire or flood or something - ho else could they know they'd lost so much paperwork but the asbestos room must be the answer!

On NI numbers - my BIL2B has had exactly the same problem as eidsvold.

just wanted to say I finally got my NI number butn ow have a problem with Inland Revenue who after working for three tax years are checking to see what my taxation level is?!?! Why did theynot do that three years ago when they did my first tax return!! I had yet another form to fillout. Despite informing child benefit over two weeks ago we are still waiting to see any of that money - well I think we are 32 weeks and counting!!! As well as waiting more than a month for Inland Revenue to sort out my tax return - after finishing work. I knew bureaucracy was a nightmare but this just goes on and on and on.

I am beginning to think this might all be sorted by the time Dh and I are ready to emigrate!!!

eidsvold,
When I worked for the Inland Revenue many years ago, there was a point where we were so far behind with our work that we were told to bin all post that we had that was over,I think, three months old. The reasoning was appartently that if anyone was that bothered, they would chase us up. I don't personally know what there like now but from what my friend who still works there tells me, they are, in her office at least, pretty hopeless.
Hope this doesn't depress you too much.

well I can finally say - 27 weeks after applying - my child benefit has come through!!! Now I just need my tax return from Inland Revenue!!