Crisis Loans: Telephone Services
Work and Pensions
Written answers and statements, 8 October 2007
Michael Moore (Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs; Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
(1) whether the Government plan to increase the number of staff manning the Jobcentre Crisis Loan helpline; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what the average time was that a caller to the Jobcentre Crisis Loan helpline had to wait before the call was answered in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
James Plaskitt (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Warwick & Leamington, Labour)
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked Lesley Strathie to reply to your questions asking whether the Government plans to increase the number of staff manning the Jobcentre Crisis Loan helpline; and what the average time was that a caller to the Jobcentre Crisis Loan helpline had to wait before the call was answered in the latest period for which figure are available. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Ms Strathie as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. I am replying on her behalf as Acting Chief Executive.
Average call waiting times are not available as we do not have a national Crisis Loan helpline. Telephone calls for Crisis Loans are taken at Benefit Delivery Centres around the country using separate 0800 numbers. Centralisation of Benefit Delivery is not yet complete. In areas where Social Fund Benefit Delivery Centres have yet to be rolled out customers may call their local office on a local number.
To help with the increasing demand in Crisis Loan applications we have, since early July, started to re-deploy staff from the Contact Centre Directorate to handle telephone enquiries about Crisis Loans. As a result there will be an extra 500 people taking calls from customers applying for Crisis Loans.
Annotations
Loan Ranger
Posted on 4 Nov 2007 1:31 am (Report this annotation)
"To help with the increasing demand in Crisis Loan applications we have, since early July, started to re-deploy staff from the Contact Centre Directorate to handle telephone enquiries about Crisis Loans. As a result there will be an extra 500 people taking calls from customers applying for Crisis Loans." (Surely the epitome of being "economical with the facts", the final paragraph: Letter from Mel Groves)
My "bullometer" detects that this is a self-defeating exercise because clients whose benefit claims would otherwise have been processed by these "re-deployed staff" are being told to get a CL in the interim, thus further increasing the overall workload and their original claims will still need to be processed, albeit later. (E.g. see the links in my earlier posting - http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-10-08b.156120.h... ) This may help to allay (for a while) criticism of the CL service, meanwhile, it's evidently creating a huge backlog of claims elsewhere:
E.g. "Huge backlogs of claims for benefit throughout the UK" - http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1791955.0.0...
Quote: "As a hard-pressed and under-valued member of staff in the Clyde & Fife Benefit Delivery Centre and having a full 24 years service I can confirm that Caroline Flint MP is being somewhat economical with the facts." (anon - 30/10/2007)
It's anyone's guess as to - how JCP are going to "remedy" these incremental backlogs? - returning the aformentioned "re-deployed staff" back to their old jobs seems the obvious. Au plus ca change, au plus c'est la meme chose.
L.R. Home: http://loanranger.no-ip.org/crisis%20loan/