The Recession and the Little People

The newspapers are all reporting on the recession at the moment, banks making major mistakes with our money, businesses big and small closing across the globe and public is spending less and less as more and more become redundant. Speaking from experience the government of the UK and the Job Centre were never ready for the rise in unemployment across the UK at all.

They have had to take on new staff in the Job Centre to deal with the number of new claims coming into the office, be it over the phone or internet, and more staff in the office. Signing times have gone down and there is very little help received in the way of looking for work either as the staff have that many appointments in the day. The process reminds me of shelling peas.

From start to now my claim has been open no more than eight weeks and in that time, it has been a rapid reclaim, joint claim, customer partner claim and all the way back again. I’ve spoken to over fifteen people on the phones about the claim and had more than one in depth interview to have the issues sorted out. I was left with no income for more than six weeks and the only response I got was ‘it’s not my fault’ which was very frustrating as every time I spoke to someone different I got a different response. Unfortunately no one was looking to stand up and say yes this is our fault lets deal with it and get it sorted out. Well not until I put in a formal complaint. I got a response and seven weeks worth of money in less than a week only to receive one letter that included a new claim booklet, the words ‘please fill in’ scrawled on top of it.

I called the high level complaints manager to find out that the claim had been accidentally closed and I would need to submit a rapid reclaim to get the claim open again. I have filled it in and will find out during the week whether or not it has been sorted and I will start getting a regular payment until I find some employment. I am aware of people with learning disabilities being offered absolutely no help in Job Centres in other regions, people with children having their claim closed and money stopped with no explanation and left for over a month. When I mentioned this to the complaints manager I have been dealing with she told me that it was no excuse but there are that many new people in the office that many mistakes are being made and it is the same up and down the UK.

So while the press report on redundancies and pensions that are affecting people in highly paid jobs, they are forgetting the knock on effect further down the line when it reaches you and me, the little people with no one to fight our corners. What can we do about it? Unfortunately not that much. Whilst businesses are closing there are very few job openings anywhere and many people are in the same predicament. The only advice I can offer is keep looking for a new job and good luck with any interviews you may already have lined up.