Citizens Advice memorandum for the Work
and Pensions Committee: Jobcentre Plus Customer Management System
(CMS)
INTRODUCTION
The Jobcentre Plus Customer Management System
(CMS) is in use in 60% of the Jobcentre Plus network and will
continue to grow alongside the roll out of the new Jobcentre Plus
network until its completion next year. CMS operates alongside
call centres, which together mean that the "usual" method
for applying for Income Support, Incapacity Benefit and Jobseekers
Allowance is over the telephone—even on visiting a Jobcentre
Plus office, new claimants are in the first instance shown to
"warm" phones within the office to make the claim. However,
this is only an information collecting process, if a telephone
call is not appropriate for the customer, they should be able
to request a paper application and face-to-face assistance with
completion.
However, bureaux in areas where CMS has been
rolled out are reporting many serious problems with the system.
The main and very current problems include:
— Delays in claim processing because
the call centres are unable to deal with the volume of calls and
people have simply been unable to get through for days. There
have then been delays in outbound calls being made back to them
to complete the claim process.
— The second big issue is that, despite
clear guidance that paper claims must be accepted and face-to-face
claims must be offered to those for whom the phone is inappropriate,
there is very little resource available to deal with claims this
way and people are often forced to claim over the phone.
CLAIMING JOBCENTRE
PLUS BENEFITS
VIA CMS/TELEPHONE
CALL CENTRES
Bureaux report claimants having problems in getting
through to the callcentres to make their initial benefit application;
delays in the outbound call being made to complete the application
and interviews dates given several weeks ahead with no access
to money in the interim.
Difficulties getting through to call centres
A bureau in Cambridgeshire reported a couple of clients
who could not get through on the phone to make a claim for JSA.
One had been trying for three weeks and eventually managed to
get through on another number in order to initiate a complaint.
They reported another client whose husband had just left her and
their two children. After a week of trying to get through to make
a claim for income support she came to the bureau stressed, anxious
and with no money.
A bureau in Bedfordshire reported another client
who visited the Jobcentre Plus office to claim JSA the day after
she finished work. She was given the number to claim but when
she couldn't get through returned to the Jobcentre Plus office
and was told to just keep trying. After 10 unsuccessful days she
had run out of money and visited the bureau. The adviser tried
six times and couldn't get through either. They got through to
the social fund number after four attempts but were told they
couldn't get a crisis loan without having had a JSA interview.
They called the complaints line and were advised that this number
should be called where claimants had failed to get through for
three days. They agreed that someone would call that day to arrange
an interview.
As the claimant had no money or food the bureau adviser
tried to find a local charity that could help her. Before the
client left the bureau the Jobcentre Plus had called her on her
mobile and arranged an interview date for a couple of days time.
A client of a bureau in East Sussex tried many times
to obtain advice from the DWP contact centre, having recently
been bereaved, and eventually visited the bureau in despair. She
did not have enough money to ring any more times and her bank
balance was already very low.
Problems with the "call back" system
A client of a Bedfordshire bureau had difficulties
claiming JSA over the phone. The first day she couldn't get through,
but on the next day managed to register her claim and a callback
was arranged for three days time—a Friday. The callback
did not happen and on the Monday she was again unable to get through.
She only had a mobile and had to spend lots of money on hold for
long periods of time. The bureau called on her behalf were kept
waiting for 30 minutes and then cut off.
A second Bedfordshire client managed to make initial
contact for her income support claim successfully but the callback
promised for four days later wasn't made until a further five
days has passed. It took one hour and forty minutes but when she
went in for her face-to-face interview to go through the paperwork
she was told that all the details on the computer had been lost
and would have to be re-entered. Originally having been told that
she'd receive payments within three days of her claim, three weeks
having now passed, she was seriously running out of money.
A bureau in Surrey reported a couple of clients who
were told that it would be two weeks before they received their
call back to complete their claim. One client had tried to claim
JSA but after two hours trying to get through on the phone gave
up distressed and came into the bureau. The bureau managed to
get through but were advised that the call back would not be for
another two weeks.
Long waits for an appointment
When the client of a bureau in Bedfordshire contacted
Jobcentre Plus to claim JSA in mid August it took a long time
for them to get through and when they did they were advised that
they would have to wait for three weeks for an appointment at
the Jobcentre Plus office. They also advised that he would have
to claim housing and council tax benefit "the old way"
as their system was down. The bureau advised their client to claim
JSA over the phone but after a week of trying he still could not
get through and had no money and no credit on his phone. He had
already been without income for four weeks and was desperate.
Having recently come out of prison he was staying with his elderly
mother who was unwell and unable to support him financially.
Another bureau in Surrey reported two clients who'd
been told they'd have to wait more than two weeks for an interviews
and would not receive any money or be considered for crisis loans
until then. The first client's Statutory Sick Pay had come to
an end, had applied for IB but had to wait for 16 days for his
interview date. The second client was a JSA claimant whose interview
date was almost three weeks after his initial phone application.
They would not consider him for a crisis loan until after the
interview. The adviser was told that this policy had been applied
in Surrey and Sussex for the last five weeks.
Over the summer period, South Yorkshire became increasingly
concerned by the delays to benefit claims due to claimants inability
to get through on the phone. There were also delays to the processing
of benefit claims once made—people were being advised that
it would take two months to process. They wrote to all Sheffield
MPs highlighting these problems as well as difficulties accessing
the social fund section and insufficient access to face-to-face
advice. They received correspondence back from MPs including the
then Work and Pensions Secretary and Sheffield MP, David Blunkett
who also passed the letter to the Chief Executive of Jobcentre
Plus for her response. The problems were acknowledged and contingency
arrangements put in place to deal on a temporary basis with the
inability of the call centre to cope with the call volumes. The
bureau has attended a couple of local liaison meetings and will
closely monitor the return to "normal" processes after
the contingency arrangements ended at the end of October.
Lack of alternative provision for clients unable
to use the phone
For many claimants making an application by phone
is simply not appropriate but face-to-face applications or applications
by paper are not encouraged and sometimes completely refused.
A client of a bureau in Hampshire needed to claim
income support and as she had no phone at home had to use the
"warm" phone at the Jobcentre Plus office. The number
was constantly engaged and she had had to spend a long time there,
which was very difficult as she had a disabled daughter who frequently
needed to use the bathroom and there were no public toilets at
the office.
An adviser in a South Yorkshire bureau waited 20
minutes to get through to Jobcentre Plus to register a claim for
a patient on a psychiatric ward, and was then told there was no
longer a system for dealing with paper claims.
Hampshire's client suffered from mental health problems
and, following a benefit check, it was identified that she should
claim IS. A bureau adviser rang the Jobcentre Plus contact centre
on her behalf, but the call centre operative was only willing
to speak to the client directly. She found it difficult to cope
with the telephone conversation, and after a while ended the call.
As the call had been made to a large call centre, the bureau adviser
could not call back and had no way of knowing how far the application
had progressed.
The client of a bureau in North Yorkshire, who was
unable to see because of cataracts in both eyes, was turned away
from his appointment with a personal adviser at the Jobcentre
because he had not filled in his application forms. He was given
a leaflet with a telephone number to ring, to make an appointment
with someone who could help him fill in the forms. The bureau
rang the number he was given, to be told that no-one had the time,
or the training, to spend the necessary one and a half hours helping
to fill it in. The client was very distressed by this, and had
to be without money coming in for far longer than necessary.
A client in Cornwall was 30 years old, had a benign
brain tumour and needed to make a claim for incapacity benefit
(IB). She was told by Jobcentre Plus to make a claim using CMS
and the new phone system, but was finding this difficult, as she
was 70% deaf. She was frustrated and worried about her claim.
It would have been easier if she had been offered a face-to-face
interview.
A client of a bureau in the Midlands had two dependent
children and hadn't worked for a few months as she had suffered
from mental health problems. She was receiving counselling from
a psychotherapist four times a week and believed she would qualify
for IB. On phoning the benefits application number, there was
a ten-minute delay in answering. The client then took a further
15 minutes—under increasing stress—to provide the
`basic information' required before a date could be set for a
telephone interview to complete her IB claim. This was arranged
for seven days ahead—an inordinate delay just to complete
the application, which again would be stressful for the client
on the phone. No date could be set for the subsequent interview
locally until this telephone call had taken place.
A client in Surrey was getting IB until he failed
his PCA. He was awarded only four points, though the bureau believed
that he might be entitled to 26. He appealed and had claimed IS
pending the result of the appeal. Over a month after his IB stopped,
he was still waiting for a decision on his IS claim during which
time he had no income, managing on ad hoc charitable handouts.
He couldn't afford to eat properly and had defaulted on essential
household bills.
Delays appear to be built into the Jobcentre Plus
claim system—the client was originally refused permission
to claim JSA because his own doctor had said that he was not well
enough to work. The client experienced delays before the call-back
interview was made. The delay had been made worse by the local
office not having the authority to update their computer system—he
had given them his new phone number but the call centre was still
trying to call him back on his old number. When he eventually
had the callback interview, he was required to provide various
documents, which he did straight away, but the time taken to courier
these from the local office to the processing office has meant
further delays. Throughout, the client struggled with poverty
and worsening ill-health.
A bureau in Norfolk was told by the Jobcentre Plus
manager that there is absolutely no alternative than to apply
by phone. They are pursuing this matter locally and we have reported
concerns to the Jobcentre Plus national Public Affairs team.
A bureau in Middlesex has also reported similar difficulties
in getting their local Jobcentre Plus office to understand the
inappropriateness of the telephone application process for many
of their most vulnerable claimants.
General processing delays
A Buckinghamshire client had been waiting over a
month following a claim for JSA for payments to be processed.
On calling the Jobcentre Plus payments processing section they
were told that there was a backlog of six weeks because of restructuring
and staff cuts. They advised that they were still dealing with
claims received two weeks before their clients and could not deal
with hers otherwise it would be unfair. The bureaux are talking
to their local Jobcentre Plus about these issues.
A client of a bureau in Cumbria was a supply teacher
and applied for contribution based JSA at the beginning of the
school holidays. By mid-September her claim has still not been
processed and when she chased it up was just told it is with the
decision makers. She was also told that she will be assessed in
the same way as offshore oil workers!
In August, a client of a bureau in Kent received
a letter from his local Jobcentre Plus office explaining their
income support entitlement some of which was arrears dating back
to December 2004. The letter including the following enlightening
explanation:
"I apologise on behalf of the Department for
the delay in clearing your claim. We do endeavour to do our best,
but unfortunately with the cuts in staff numbers and very low
morale amongst those that are left mistakes do and will occur."
Vicky Pearlman
Katie Lane
November 2005
| 
