Select Committee on Work and Pensions Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by City and County of Swansea

  Having read the transcript of oral evidence given to the Committee, I note that the Committee is experiencing difficulty obtaining "hard evidence". This I understand to mean evidence that is supported by facts rather than being merely anecdotal. I should say at the outset that I cannot provide any evidence about systems for monitoring ethnic make up of customers and staff", and "employment of people from minority ethnic communities by the DWP". It would, in any case, seem more appropriate for this Information to be gathered elsewhere. On the other issues that the Committee is expected to include in its enquiry I would point out that as a welfare rights adviser most of the contact I have with refugees and people from ethnic minorities is through giving welfare benefits advice to other agencies rather than direct y to individuals. The Welfare Rights Unit works with other agencies Which represent refugees and people from ethnic minorities as support workers and/or advocates. This report has been compiled in consultation with workers from the British Red. Cross and the Welsh Refugee Council. These agencies work closely with their clients on a day to day basis and have a lot of experience dealing with the DWP on behalf of the people they support. The evidence contained if this memorandum has been gained by consulting with them. It may be therefore that the information I have gathered from consultation will be considered anecdotal but I submit it in the hope that it will form part of a significant number of much reports which, because of their volume, will be given due regard. The British Red Cross has provided details of four actual cases which serve to illustrate the types of problems that refugees and people from ethnic minorities encounter.

    —  The issues which surfaced during the interviews formed four main categories.

    —    Wrong information or lack of information.

    —  Assumptions by DWP staff about refugees or people from ethnic minorities who do not have, a good command of English.

    —  Bureaucratic delay and insensitivity.

   Language difficulties, lack of interpreters and an apparent indifference on the part of DWP staff to claimants who cannot make themselves understood.

WRONG INFORMATION

  Back dated: payments of Income Support (IS)

  1.  When asylum seekers gain refugee status they have 28 days from the time they receive the letter from the Home Office informing them that they have been granted indefinite leave to remain to make a claim on the correct claim form for back dated income Support There is no provision in law for a late claim once the 28 day period has elapsed. The normal back dating rules for Income Support limiting payment to three months do not apply in these circumstances and IS can be back dated to the date asylum was claimed. Refugees frequently encounter problems when attempting to make this claim. These include:

    —  Being told that they cannot make a claim because they do not fit into one of the normal categories of people who are entitled to Income Support This is incorrect as these rules do not apply to refugees claiming the back dated payment.

    —  Being told Income Support cannot be backdated for more than three months which as (previously stated) is incorrect.

    —  Being told that because of the amount of money involved an explanation is necessary outlining why the claimant had waited until the 26th day before attending at the DWP Office to make the claim.

    —  Being told that they are not entitled to Income Support but no further explanation offered.

  2.  Many people have missed the opportunity to claim this back dated payment because of being given wrong information in this way and some are trying to gain compensation for this through the complaints process. There are further problems encountered With this process because people are being asked to provide proof that they were misdirected by the DWP when often no record has been made by the person who misinformed them.

INTERIM PAYMENTS

  3.  From consultation with the British Red Cross at Swansea I established that it was considered necessary to accompany refugees to the DWP offices to make claims for interim payments. Their experience was that when claimants went unaccompanied they were frequently told that they had no entitlement, but when accompanied by a support worker a payment would be made. This was the case even when the refugees spoke good English.

LACK OF INFORMATION

  4.  When asylum seekers. gain their indefinite leave to remain in the UK, unless they fit into one of the categories of people who can claim Income Support under the normal rules eg a lone parent or a carer, they have to go to the jobcentre office to sign on as available for work and make a claim for Jobseekers Allowance. The Jobcentre office in the City and County of Swansea is not yet a. Jobcentre Plus office and the staff of the Job Centre do not deal with Income Support claims. They do not inform refugees when they come to make a claim for JSA that they need to go to the Social Security Office to make the claim for the backdated Income Support. This often results in the 28 day time limit for making the claim to be missed.

  5.  As far as I am aware there is no system in place in the DWP in Swansea for monitoring the information needs of minority ethnic customers and refugees. In a recent meeting that land members of other organisations attended with members from the DWP in Swansea, there did not appear to be any awareness on the part of the DWP that people from ethnic minority groups and refugees would have any information needs over and above those of the public in general.

ASSUMPTIONS AND INSENSITIVITY

  6.  Those interviewed who had had experience of supporting or advocating on behalf of claimants in their dealings with the DWP reported that it was common for staff to make assumptions about people from ethnic communities.

  Common assumptions encountered include:

    —  People who do not have a good command of English will not want to work. This assumption results in refugees who do not speak English not being offered the option of training schemes or language training. It was felt that Language skills training was in general only offered to people with medical qualifications.

    —  People who do not have a good command of English will not have any professional qualifications or other skills. It was found that Job Centre staff do not ask: them what their job was in their own country and no attempt is made to assist them to obtain similar work here unless they have medical qualifications. DWP staff appear to work on the assumption that the only work that people from abroad can do is factory work.

    —  Assumptions made by staff of DWP that claimants have assumed a false identity based on their own cultural preconceptions. An example of this was given of a man of 23 years old who looked considerably older and who had, in his country of origin, owned and run his own restaurant.

ACTUAL DETAILS OF CASES DEALT WITH BY THE BRITISH RED CROSS AT SWANSEA

  Case 1

  7.  Mr X is a 23 year old Kurdish man who fled his native country of Iraq due to persecution from the ruling regime. He originally applied for JSA in February 2003. At the DWP new claim interview Mr X was asked about his education and employment background. When Mr X informed them that he had owned his own restaurant back in Iraq the interview was terminated. The DWP took the view that because he looked so much older than he was and had owned his own business in Iraq he could not possibly be 23. This seemingly arbitrary decision made by the interviewer resulted in an investigation into Mr X identity and the loss of his benefits.

  8.  In July 2003 Mr X finally was finally issued with a National Insurance number he made a claim for a back dated payment of JSA. Mr X was informed by the DWP that he did not satisfy the requirements for a back dated payment The Red Cross asked for the written reasons for this decision and the DWP denied that a meeting with Mr X had ever taken place despite the presence at the meeting of a Red Cross worker. In the period between February and August 2003 Mr X was left without income and relied on the support of his friends for housing and money. He was at no point made aware that he could claim backdated Income Support to cover the period under NASS support.

  Case 2

  9.  Mrs X is a 25 year old woman from Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe she was an active member of the opposition party and as a result was persecuted by the ruling regime. She fled Zimbabwe leaving behind her husband and young son. At the time of her claim for benefits Mrs X was unsure if her husband was still alive and was not hopeful of a good outcome after the then recent news from her home land. Understandably Mrs X found it difficult to speak about her husband to strangers as it brought back memories of what she had been through. This appeared to be interpreted by the DWP as Mrs X having something to hide which made securing benefits very difficult. The situation was compounded by the fact that she did not have a permanent National Insurance number. Interim payments were eventually secured when Mrs X attended at interview at the DWP accompanied by a support worker. Mrs X was at no point made aware that she could claim backdated Income Support to cover the period of NASS support.

BUREAUCRATIC DELAYS

  10.  The main problem encountered is the length of time it takes to obtain a permanent National Insurance number. This causes a lot of hardship as NASS support stops 28 days after indefinite leave has been granted and it can take months to obtain a permanent NI number. This can cause extreme hardship where someone has been wrongly told that they are not entitled to interim payments.

  11.  The delays in issuing NI numbers and in processing benefit are often caused by claimants being asked to provide information which they do not have and cannot obtain. This is made worse by the fact that in many cases the request for such information has not been understood. DWP staff send out letters to people they can hardly fail to know will not understand them with no regard to how such letters Will be translated for the claimant. (This is also dealt with in the section on Language difficulties par's 14 & 15) That this leads to delays of payment or even to the closures of claims is certain. What is less certain perhaps is whether this ought to be thought of purely as a language problem or whether there are other issues here which need to be addressed.

  Case 3

  12.  Mr X is a 45 year old man from Pakistan. He lived his country with his wife and two young children after suffering persecution due to his religious beliefs. The type of work Mr X is able to undertake is limited slightly by a disability caused by a childhood illness. Mr X was referred to the British Red Cross by a friend who was concerned about the welfare of the family due to the faQ that he was apparently ineligible for state support.

  13.  Mr X was granted leave to remain in June 2003 but his case only became apparent at the end of July. In this time Mr X was attending the jobcentre every fortnight to sign on but receiving no payment. After the original meeting limited funds from the Red Cross and Social Services were made available because there were children involved. It became apparent that the DWP were unwilling to pay Mr X as he had declared that he owned three properties in Pakistan. These properties were valued by the DWP and they found that he had assets above the capital limit. It is unclear how the DWP were able to assign value to property in Pakistan. Despite Mr X's full co-operation and documentary evidence being supplied stating that he had no access to the properties and could not take any financial benefit from them The DWP refused to changed their decision. They stated that they required evidence that he was attempting to sell the properties despite the obvious difficulties involved in doing this.

  In November 2003 Mr X was represented by the Swansea Welfare Rights Unit at an appeal tribunal. The appeal was upheld granting Mr X all benefits entitled to him.

LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES

  14.  Lack of English language skills is a barrier to claimants from ethnic minorities accessing the correct benefits. Claimants who do not speak or read English are given forms to take away to complete. There appears to be an assumption that claimants will have access to informal interpreters from within their communities who will do this for them. This frequently results in late claims or failed claims. One support worker highlighted problems of this nature in connection with Child Benefit Local offices do not deal with Child Benefit claims and completed claim forms have to be sent to Newcastle on Tyne. The claimants are invariably asked for further information by letter and are given a time limit to provide this which, if the claimant does not have immediate access to an informal interpreter who is willing and able to assist them, can result in the claim being closed down.

  15.  There also seemed to be little awareness that refugees have often gone through very traumatic experiences and are ill equipped to deal with the complexities of the benefits system and the demands it makes on them to provide information which they often don't have, and to complete forms they may not understand, within set time limits.

  Case 4

  16.  Mr X is a 33 year old Kurdish man originally from Iraq. He lived in a housing estate in Swansea with his wife, who was at the time three months pregnant, and their three children aged 10, 7 and 4. In September 2003 after suffering weeks of verbal abuse in the housing estate Mr X was physically assaulted and attacked with a knife by two or more people in full view of his wife and young family. As a result the family were moved out of the estate by the police for their own safety and moved to stay with friends. Emergency housing was not granted immediately.

  17.  Still traumatised by the recent events Mr X attended the jobcentre to sign on. When asked if he was available for work Mr X tried to explain recent events; his current situation and the fact that at the moment his family was homeless. The Job Centre accessed "Language Line" seemingly just to confirm that he was unavailable for work. A week later the Red Cross support worker received a call from an extremely distressed Mr X about a letter he had received from the DWR The letter stated that as he was unable to work he was ineligible for Jobseekers Allowance. At this time JSA was Mr X's only source of income, which had now been reduced to £0 per week, to support his family. After intervention by the support worker Mr X's benefit was reinstated and a member of the counter staff issued an unofficial apology. Without this intervention it is probable that this decision would not have been reversed.

  18.  It is interesting to note that an interpreter was not used to get the personal details or circumstances of Mr X, only to confirm that he was unable to work. Also that in the nine months that he had been attending the jobcentre this was that only occasion that Language Line had been used and that at no point was he informed of his right to claim backdated Income Support to cover the period under NASS support.

Barbara Jacobs

25 February 2004  





 
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