OPENING HOURS SURVEY

hi mods. don't post much. but with you on anything you agree on. many thanks bullwhip.

Hi
It would be nice if a Saturday session was available as if something arrives in the post on a Saturday that needs your help, it seems ages until Monday. However you have lives and disabilities too and you already give so much of your time, to be fair I honestly don't think we can ask for more. You do a great job and I am thankful of all the help you have given me in the past.

I think that the opening hours for the afternoon are fine but I think the evening hours could be from 7.00 to 9.00 as for me due to my medication I am normally in bed by 9.00-9.30

I think that the moderation should stay just to cover any legal issues

I think weekend opening should stay closed as even with advice from mods there is still nothing you can do about any letters/decisions until Monday when dwp open again and the mods need a weekend rest from the great work that they do Monday to Friday.

Once again a big thank you to all the mods for their time and effort in these difficult benefit changing times.

You're all doing a fantastic job

It would be great if once a week you could do a longer "extended hours Q and A session" eg 5-9pm instead of 2-4 and 8-10, which I find a bit fragmented.

I don't think there's any need to open at the weekend: if a letter arrives on a Sat, there's nothing that can be done until Monday anyway.

Irrespective of whether changes are made to the current forum opening times, I wonder whether there might be scope for occasional “emergency sessions” at the modulators’ discretion.

• The referendum regarding Scottish independence takes place this week. Regardless of the outcome, Scotland looks set to determine her own benefits policy, a change that will affect members that side of the border.
• We have a General Election on 15 May 2015. Again, irrespective of the makeup of the next government we may have a Secretary of State at the DWP ready to take a fresh looks at ESA and the WCA that determines who get the benefit. Moreover, such has been the chaos in migrating IB/IS/SDA claimants to ESA that a new minister might think again, or at least more carefully, about the transfer of people with indefinite DLA awards PIP.
• The DWP are at least six months behind schedule in shifting all IB/IS/SDA claimants onto ESA or JSA. Remember how the exodus was to complete by 31 March 2014? Much has been written about halting reassessments but there has been little clarity News leeks and official announcements can cause intense worry or false hopes.
• I cannot remember when the media last mentioned a third-party company to take over from Atos Healthcare! When the heir to Atos is announced, members will want to learn how that company might approach the WCA (more home assessments, for example).

Just a thought…

Mari W