Today's job was getting an insight into the vast roles
that combine to provide us with a housing benefit service. This is a scary one
to blog about as it’s a rather controversial topic! Obviously I can’t go into
any detail about people I met, but it was a very eye opening experience.
The morning started on the 'meet and greet' desk where I
observed the huge amount of queries that the staff there have to deal with. I can't
imagine what a first day there would feel like! You’re asked everything from
can you order me some recycling bags (which FYI if you live in a flat Gravesend
you don’t get yet), right through to asking about housing developments to see
if there are any potential new properties on the horizon. There are around 3000
people waiting for houses in Gravesend alone, I actually met someone that had
made it to number 12 on the list - must be an amazing feeling! Anyway I've got
off track. The guys on the front desk certainly cope amazingly under pressure,
it's impressive how calm they remain - there was a que to speak to them for
most of the hour and that was a quiet day apparently! In the past they have had
someone bring in a rat to prove they had a rat infestation, another time
someone emptied their rubbish sack in the entrance (I'm informed this kind of
thing only happens once a month!). There was however a member of the public
having a panic attack this morning which was pretty scary - but the staff took
it in their stride…I did help out a little with that. Certainly seems there’s
never a dull day!
I'd just like to add I'm writing this in the cafe where
the staff have made me feel amazingly welcome (I know some of them now that
this is my third week) all whilst there are a group of people singing and
playing the guitar - the community feel of this building is great!
Anyway, next was the face to face drop in service where
people can get help with their housing benefit. This could be anything from
completing their application to informing the council of changes of
circumstances. It was quite upsetting how much stress some people were under,
some were even crying where they were in circumstances that they were unable to
change. I can imagine how stressful trying to do everything that you need to is
- especially if you aren't functioning properly which some people wouldn’t be. One
person had a small increase in their income which meant that after recalculations
taking this into account they actually ended up paying out more than their
increase…so lost money!
I know that there is a lot of stigma around people that
receive benefits, but as someone who had their life turned upside down beyond
my control, I can completely understand that sometimes you end up in a position
where no matter how much you would like to, you simply can’t support yourself.
Everyone that I witnessed in my few hours at the counter seemed
like they genuinely needed help, one person had actually knowingly not claimed
thousands that they were entitled to (they weren’t backdating their claim), but
now needed the help of the council.
The team were so kind, and wanted to do everything that
they could to help people. If I’m honest that’s not something that I expected,
but I guess it is just that they have very strict guidelines that they have to
slot people into to decide whether or not they are entitled to help.
The last section of the day, I was allowed to attend a
couple of fraud investigation visits. I certainly can’t write anything about
these, but all that I will say is that I would definitely not be able to do a
job like that as I would want to help everyone! That said, I do realise that unfortunately there are people that abuse the system...otherwise the fraud department wouldn't exist!
I didn’t realise just how many staff it takes to provide
us with housing benefit – and that’s just one borough! There are so many
aspects to this department of the council, there are even dedicated social media teams to make sure there are as many ways as possible for people to be able to
contact the council when they need to
Thanks to Gravesend Council for having me along for the
day, it was certainly an interesting day – just a shame I can’t really share
the insights that I gained
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