73) 41 days...

14th August 2014

Went down to the housing benefits department yesterday and spoke to Leanne once again.

After having received an invoice for over £1000 (change of circumstances to no viable outcome, means this is not in fact money owed at all, as i well knew & I will attach a copy of this invoice for transparency at a later date*.) EV 14 I decided to pay them/her another visit. This invoice was as far as I'm aware an attempt at intimidation, but had no effect, for the aforementioned reasons.

I was told that apparently Leanne had elevated my claim, but it had not been dealt with by the office staff there, she herself admitted this was strange behaviour, as these "elevated" claims are usually dealt with swiftly.

Given the fully documented encounters I've had with both the DWP and of late the HB department (See FB posts on timeline below from which i am compiling a report). This behaviour seemed/seems entirely out of the ordinary, which is why i asked Leanne about the statistics that were present on the reception desk. *see link below*.

http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/live/images/cme_resources/Groups/g8A188209-6944-4E54-84BD-559DB2456C36/Stafford-Dashboard-140714.pdf

These stats suggest that the turn around times for change of circumstances were 4 days for Feb & March respectively.

Pointing out the fact that in March my claim was delayed for at least 2 weeks, i asked how then are these statistics representative of actual times?

At this point i tried to ascertain if there was any sort of other way these figures were "fixed" or "cooked". I was told there were 2 periods of "counting days" one from when the claim is first made, and another, when all relevant information is received, and that perhaps the latter date, is the date used in the figures. I would need to confirm this though. Also this is irrelevant to my case, as far as i recall i handed in the required information at the time i made the claim.

Next i wanted to ascertain if my circumstances were anomalous. That is, if an average were used to calculate the figures that are displayed on the stats page, and if my case was at an extreme on that data-set.

In order to deduce where my claim lies on a spectrum of data, i will require the data mentioned. I intend to forward a FOI request to this extent.
Semi-Anonymised data will suffice. (I.e my claim being non-anonymous so to speak, other data being anonymous except for "turn-around times")

If my data (Waiting-time) is indeed anomalous (extreme), then combined with the other pre-documented examples of either departmental corruption or "apparent" incompetence, it would build a strong-case for the fact that due to my political views, i am being singled out and treated poorly, by this government.

I have evidence of these delays in the form of bank-statements. Firstly at least a 14 day delay in Feb/March, and then what will be a 41 day delay for July/august (No data currently available on HB stats page).

This delay has meant that the housing benefits i receive will be delayed for yet another week (total 30 days processing time, apparently the "timer" stops when the claim is processed, even though i will still not receive any funds for a further number of days on top of this, so it's 41 days delay in my perspective).
For someone with no JSA or Hardship income either, this is completely ridiculous & totally unacceptable.

Considering a person receiving JSA who is sanctioned is automatically penalised by having their HB stopped, and then the restarting of this HB (change of circumstances) creates a 30 day delay (as is documented in this case, and will be backed up by bank statements at a later date). This system as it currently exists is causing immense hardship to citizens in this country.

The question that was also raised by me is why, when a JSA claim is sanctioned does HB also stop? Apparently it is to do with whats called "pass-ported benefits" where if you are receiving JSA, you are automatically passported through on HB.

So when you are sanctioned you are no longer in the eyes of the HB people receiving JSA, and thus your claim is stopped. This outcome is i suspect the result of trying to fix figures by the DWP, stating that they have reduced unemployment, when in fact these people are not employed, they are instead "sanctioned".

However in order to claim they are not unemployed, you probably have to fully stop any and all benefits they are receiving in order to count as no longer unemployed. I suspect this gross violation of peoples rights and detrimental outcomes for many citizens, is due to a wish to be perceived as "helping the U.K back to work", or some other such bullshit fake mantra.

However this is not true in my opinion. When you are sanctioned, you are still entitled to this period, and putting aside the fact that the entire sanctioning system is the complete opposite to the current law & order system, (innocent until proven guilty) and a gross violation of article 6 of the ECHR, the fact that you are sanctioned/disallowed does not mean that you should have to wait 4 weeks for HB to restart also.

There should be a provision that states that a person is sanctioned, thus obviously hasn't found employment, and that there HB claim remains intact.

To Leanne's credit though i received a phone call this morning from the council saying it was now in processing. And a payment would be administered by the 24th August. (July 14th made change of circumstances claim = 41 days).

When asked how i have managed to support myself i stated starving, selling the few things i have, and borrowing money. Which is the truth.

Edited For Spelling 29/10/15

Original Source:- https://www.facebook.com/J3D15/posts/10152335283121089