A ‘disheartened’ Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employee said they were feeling ‘burnt out’ due to being ‘blamed for everything’.
The Reddit user said they manned the phones for the Disability Living Allowance helpline, which focused on claims for children and insisted their job wasn’t ‘easy’, despite what people may think.
They revealed they’d recently been subjected to verbal abuse for ‘just trying to help’ and being unable to do things that were outside of their control.
The DWP worker said they were keen to ‘clear up’ several misconceptions people had.
Posting in a dedicated benefits system forum, they said: “I’m a front-line DWP worker – and I’m burnt out from being blamed for everything.
“I work on the DLA child line, and I wanted to clear up a few things based on what we hear every day.
“Calls come through to us automatically — we don’t pick and choose who to answer.”
They continued: “We know the delays and timescales are frustrating — we’re frustrated too.
“But please understand that we don’t process claims ourselves and we don’t control or decide the timescales. We’re just the first point of contact.
“We also can’t escalate claims or transfer you to someone else, even when you ask.”
Giving more insight into their job, they added: “Lately, a lot of us have been dealing with verbal abuse, and it’s honestly disheartening.
“Most of us are just trying to help as best we can within the rules we’re given.
“This job isn’t easy, even if it seems like it from the outside.
“So next time you call, please try to remember there’s a person on the other end who’s trying to help — even if they can’t always give the answer you’re hoping for.”
One sympathetic response read: “It can be really draining being blamed for everything, especially on the frontline with face-to-face contact.
“You have to be the face of the whole DWP system even though you only work for one tiny fraction of it.”
A second said: “I feel you. I used to work on the Universal Credit lines for booking ID appointments and the amount of abuse we got was insane.”
A third chipped in: “I’m not surprised you’re burnt out. It’s an exhausting job.
“Having done it for a year, I feel your pain. Hats off to you and your colleagues. I do appreciate everything you do.”
Another told them they “couldn’t do what you do”, adding: “Some people are desperate and feeling ignored, then can’t separate the person on the end of the phone from the organisation itself, and some people are just entitled and expect their problem or issue to be prioritised without merit.
“It must be so difficult, as I’m sure you just want to help people.”
Source – https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/i-work-dwp-im-burnt-32195948/