STOP THAT THIEF! Reform the Social Security Department.

As the leaflet above says (click on image to enlarge it) - this is a copy of an actual statement from the Social Security Department showing details of an Income Support claim award.

We have of course removed anything that might identify the claimant or the senior officer at the Income Support Unit that produced it.

WE have been asking for months that such  FULL statements should be produced by the Department in response to EVERY claim.

Without such full information it is impossible to know whether a claim decision is correct and without such information a claimant cannot know whether to seek a RECONSIDERATION or to make an Appeal against the decision.

Evenso, it is still very difficult to understand what the statement actually says. It is set out in a very confusing format and is a very strange way to present information to people with all sorts of illnesses and different levels of understanding and use of language.

As always, the Social Security Department  seems to be unable to present the most basic information in an easy to understand way and the claimant has had to ask and ask repeatedly for this statement to be produced.

As always too, we wonder just how many people are denied their full and proper benefits awards by the Social Security Department  because of the complexity of the process and do not know how to challenge decisions that have been made.

Indeed we do wonder who the "BENEFIT THIEVES" really are!?

In the UK an officer is appointed to ensure that applicants receive ALL the benefits that a claimant is entitled to without having to confront Social Security staff in a challenging way.

Of course, the confrontational attitude of the SS Department itself is everywhere.
Postal communications are endorsed with the "Benefits Thieves" message, posters are displayed and media artcicles are constantly labelling claimants as potential cheats or lazy crooks.
Every form or letter from the SS Department warns of prosecution and punishment for giving wrong information - claimants are made to feel like criminals just for making an application for benefits to which they are fully entitled.

The attitude of some staff towards claimants is not always helpful or polite yet it is the claimant who faces warning notices about bad behaviour.

The standard and accuracy of information given by this Department is dreadfully inadequate. WE at SSTAG are constantly hearing about lost files, missing data, conflicting advice, anynoymous staff who refuse to give their names, delays  and confusion.

For a Department that has to deal on a daily basis with people who are ill and stressed through  difficult personal circumstances, lack of language skills, inability to understand bureaucratic processes and so on we find that the service offered is so often just simply so unsympathetic and flawed.

Of course we understand that some staff do their best - but our members have been flagging up these problems for years and it seems that there is an institutional inability to reform or improve standards or attitudes.

This is especially sad since we had expected so much better from Senator Le Gresley as Minister for the Social Security Department in view of his background of many years with the Citizens Advice Bureau.