The DWP has privately admitted to stakeholders in the last few weeks that ESA phone delays may be contributing to a rise in the risk of claimants harming themselves. This is in stark contrast to hugely positive findings of the DWP’s customer experience survey, released last week.
The DWP have sent out an appeal to “stakeholders” – groups such as advice agencies and charities – asking for help solving the problem of “pain points” experienced by ESA claimants trying to get through on the phone:
"We are interested in identifying the pain points faced by ESA customers communicating with DWP, particularly issues surrounding telephony and the pain points our customers face when contacting DWP by phone.”
The DWP say that the number of ESA calls they are receiving is increasing and that “unresolved backlogs” are a key factor. But, says the DWP, “the link between backlog management, operational decisions, and customer behaviour isn’t fully understood.”
Additionally, the department is worried that efforts to clear the backlog “may unintentionally drive more customer contact, creating a cycle that strains resources and affects service delivery.”
In other words, they are worried that if they try to clear the backlog, they may make it even worse.
Even more concerningly, the DWP admit that “Additionally, 6 Point plan intervention during these phone calls are rising across all service lines, potentially due to delays impacting the customer experience.”
The 6 Point plan is a series of steps DWP staff are supposed to follow when a claimant says “that they intend to harm or kill themselves”. It includes summoning a colleague to act as a support partner, gathering information to gauge the level of risk and either providing referral advice or summoning the emergency services.
For the DWP to admit that delays in dealing with benefits enquiries could be causing claimant’s such distress that they may harm themselves is, to say the least, unusual.
It is also a very far cry from the findings of the wildly upbeat customer experience survey published last week, which found that:
76 per cent of customers agreed that it was easy to contact DWP about their benefit claim.
80 per cent of customers agreed that it was easy to use DWP services.
80 per cent of customers were satisfied with the time it took DWP to tell them the outcome of their new claim or change of circumstances.
There is no mention whatsoever in the survey results of some claimants becoming so distressed by the difficulties they experience using DWP services that they are at risk of harming themselves.
In their email to stakeholders, the DWP say that “We believe that our shared clients’ experiences are crucial to shaping a better system. Their stories of dealing with DWP processes will help us identify not only practical pain points but also the emotional toll that service delays can have on their lives. We are especially interested in capturing their feelings, anxieties, and any challenges they’ve faced when interacting with these systems.”
The department is asking stakeholders to tell them, in particular, about:
- “Contacting ESA/New Style ESA telephony service lines
- Any difficulties or frustrations they’ve had when interacting with ESA
- Any barriers or challenges faced when liaising with ESA
- Their feelings, anxieties, or positive experiences with these systems and services.
- Suggestions on how these processes could be made more accessible, user-friendly, and emotionally supportive.”
It is a positive thing that the DWP are trying to find ways to make their service more emotionally supportive.
The fact that they are being so secretive about the problem and their apparent reluctance to make the most obvious change of investing more resources in ESA telephony is very concerning, however.
And the chances of any of the findings of this research being made public by the DWP is almost certainly zero.
