gov.uk Arvostelua 

This is not acceptable they want you to find employment but they cannot do paperwork to fund childcare Disgusting you need to preach what you say this depends on peoples ting help to work.
Can you employ me I am over qualified but willing to help and make a change

Subject: Escalation of Formal Complaint – Ongoing Failures in Handling My Childcare Support
Dear Complaints Team,
I am writing to escalate my complaint regarding the handling of my Flexible Support Fund application and Universal Credit childcare reimbursement.
Despite doing everything requested of me, I have been left in serious financial hardship because of repeated delays, poor communication and contradictory information from multiple members of staff.
Throughout this process I have:
Provided every document requested, including childcare invoices, receipts and evidence of payment.
Been asked to upload the same information more than once.
Received conflicting information from different advisers about when payments had been approved and when they would be made.
Had at least five different members of staff dealing with my journal, with nobody taking ownership of my case.
I was initially told that my Flexible Support Fund payment had been approved and would reach my nursery within a few days. I was then told it would not arrive until 2 July. Because of these delays, I had no option but to use money that should have paid my rent to cover childcare costs so I could continue working.
As a direct result of the Department's handling of my claim:
I am now behind with my rent.
My landlord is unhappy because my rent has not been paid on time.
My employment has been placed at risk because I cannot continue paying childcare costs upfront.
I have suffered unnecessary stress and anxiety trying to obtain clear answers.
I have repeatedly asked when I will receive my 85% childcare reimbursement so I can pay my landlord, but this question has still not been properly answered.
I am requesting:
A full explanation for the conflicting information I have received.
Confirmation of exactly when my childcare reimbursement will be paid.
Confirmation that my complaint is being investigated by one named case handler.
Consideration of compensation for the distress, inconvenience and financial hardship caused by these delays and failures in communication.
Assurance that my case will be managed correctly going forward so I do not have to keep repeating myself to different members of staff.
The Department encourages parents into work, yet the way my case has been handled has placed my employment at risk instead of supporting me. This situation was entirely avoidable had accurate information been provided and my case managed properly.
I expect a full written response addressing each of the above points.

I spoke to an Irish lady named Carol who abruptly ended the phone without saying anything.

Hi Dawn,
It was lovely speaking with you today.

The service I received from Dawn today was outstanding.

I would like to say a massive thank you to you Dawn.

Dawn had patience of a saint.

Dawn was so understanding, and her flexibility to deal with varying situations was welcoming.

I found Dawn to be a wonderful,endearing, approachable and very professional person.

Dawn was genuinely interested in helping and providing me with the correct information I needed and required.

I do hope Dawn receives the recognition she so rightly deserves.

Many thanks and stay safe

Kind regards

Linzey Le-Luan

The worst universal credits call centre both callers hanged up on me and the last call was a woman was rude and vile no wonder this call centre hires people who don't like there job haha you choose to have that job in the first time moody customer service bad

Universal credit. Is so rude. Give out false information. The system is unfit for perpers. The Government need to get it sorted. Universal credit you get payed to treat people like rubbish. Call centre needs to go that would save a lot of money. All thay are doing is wasting everyone's time. What a waste of money. Complant been going on for six months and refused to send us call data.

Universal Credit favors certain communities, often supporting long-settled immigrant groups while rejecting most other claims. Even when someone is sick, weak, or provides full evidence, their claim is often denied without explanation. Lifelong contributors are expected to keep working to support people who rarely work, have children, claim housing, and stay on benefits for decades, sometimes with cash-in-hand income going unchecked.
Responsible, single individuals who save, pay taxes, and avoid relying on benefits face constant obstacles, often denied from day one. Minority religions or less-favored groups experience extra harassment, sometimes forced to spend their savings, making homelessness a less painful option than dealing with the system.
This selective and brutal approach threatens future pensions and contributes to severe stress, health issues, and even deaths.

Thanks for nothing, you give us barely enough money, then claim back the money we actually have. Run by idiots who clearly have enough money themselves and don’t understand money struggles. Useless, may as well not bother.

Moved from ESA to UC has been nothing but a disaster!! We were paid housing for a 2 bed since 2016 and are being paid that now but they won’t pay for the 3 months transition Oct to Dec ‘25. You phone VuC and they agree you are owed money. You leave a journal entry and no one responds. You ask multiple times for a complaint to be raised and hear nothing. The independent case examiner won’t look at your case until you have a final decision from UC and so it goes round and round.
I’m next writing to my local MP as this service is an absolute disgrace! Well done the government on creating this mess!!

Universal credit worked well while I was a carer for my mum, as soon as mum died and I notified them, within a couple of days they had booked a mandatory appointment with a big scary message that popped up on the screen about sanctions if I didn’t attend it, there was no thought about contacting me on the phone to try and arrange things around what was going on for me and the appointment landed right on the day of my mum‘s funeral (Online I see that I am not alone in this, there have been people seeing the scary message who have had funerals/ been going to see their dead father at the funeral home with a scary sanctions message about simultaneous appointment). Admittedly I know they didn’t know this in my case and I being a bit more assertive than most complained, and they then did give me a break for a few months to recover but as soon as I then went onto their system as a non-carer I had experiences like having to go to work appointments when I was supposed to be signed off, having a thoroughly intrusive financial review where I was repeatedly told that if I gave the wrong answers I could be prosecuted, whilst the person they had hired to carry this interview out with me did not speak English as a first language. So I had to keep asking them to repeat themselves over various financial terms I’d never heard of before that they didn’t pronounce correctly and they were getting irritable with me because of this, I don’t have hearing problems but feel very sorry for anyone having to go through this who do. All this meant because it was such a legally binding interview I had to double check what was being said to me to make sure I gave the right answers, I was very friendly with the person but I knew they were getting irritated but I couldn’t help it if I didn’t understand what they were saying. It’s not the persons fault but the people in the background that chose for them to be doing that interview must be utterly brain-dead - knowing full well that it is verbally legally binding and you can be prosecuted!! I did everything that was asked of me, but I went through a period later partly due to the bereavement, where I was having some very bad personal difficulties when I was trying to attend the restart appointments, the work coach was a nice chap, but there was some miscommunication and I didn’t think he was responding to genuine messages I was sending. I then asked universal credit to close the claim especially as my drs note was running out and I couldn’t face trying to communicate with dr as well in a high speed appointment over phone where dr is talking fast and trying to rush you off the phone as soon as possible. Finally I managed to get to speak to the work coach and had a good meeting, he recommended I keep my claim open (and it was still open at this point), I then sent a message through the journal -saying I have spoken to my work coach and after discussion he thinks I should keep the claim open, can you please do this. Three hours later somebody has come in, read the message which I have clearly sent and decided to close the claim anyway. To be honest I couldn’t care less, I have an interview coming up, but the fact that I have sent this additional message and have done everything that they have asked me during this whole period of time and been polite in discussions, and they treated me like this at a difficult time in my life is utterly despicable and and frankly an insult, especially as they know I don’t currently have a job. Thanks for that UC!!



I think the whole system is heavy-handed, punishment based and intrusive from what I have seen of it, and a friend had an awful experience 10 yrs ago who was living alone with no one else’s income at home, and she was made redundant at nearly 60, she didn’t apply for one job she felt was too far away and her advisor at the time then decided to chuck a hand grenade into her finances for a month with ‘sanctions’ and later the offer of a ‘hardship payment’ that would need to be paid back. This is to a nearly 60 year old made redundant. She then ended up working on the meat counter at a supermarket (and she was vegetarian) as she was so desperate to get off the benefit system. Expect from the current system design to be treated badly and for it to be stressful, even if not by the advisors themselves who actually were generally friendly.

Rubbish and useless workers that couldn’t care less about helping. The system only support lazy assess that want to live off benefits but if you work and work and need help during mat leave, then no help. Thanks to their incompetence i’ve lost financial support for my babies nursery! maybe i have to quit my job and live of benefits? is this what we have to do? I was entitled to 85% of the nursery fees but these useless workers never told me X invoice won’t be covered so i’ve been paying all by myself as a single mum; now can’t also get the tax free childcare because also thieves HMRC won’t allow til next review in 3 months so I don’t get any of the help i should be getting - GREAT! LETS GIVE OUR TAXES TO LAZY ONES AND F*** THE HARD WORKING PEOPLE!!

I was given an overpayment of £426 I
Informed universal credit straight away
On the same day as I received my usual payment they said to me I have to phone DWP DEPT DEPARTMENT to arrange a payment scheme so that I PAY THE MONEY BACK they gave me by mistake who the he'll these people think they are screw the government that's what I say

Fully dependent on benefits and disability. Went for an assessment on 6th may for IIDB. was told I would hear back In a couple of weeks. With no warning, notice or explanation my universal credit was suspended. When I contacted them to ask for a copy of my statement they said they haven't calculated as they are still waiting for a decision from IIDB. So they were going to leave me high and dry with no income to pay my bills because they themselves (DWP) hadn't communicated with another dept within DWP to confirm a decision that had intact been made they just didn't check. When I asked am I still due to receive a payment on the payment date they said they don't know. So I asked them what am I supposed to say to my landlord as I can't pay my rent? He just instantly said do not shout at me. I was talking and simply asked a question. I can see it's any excuse to not deal with customers when it's their error. He then went on to say if I checked my journal I will have been told. I asked him please check my journal and tell me where this notification is, because as far as I can see there wasn't any. He said I will check and tell you. Then said well anyway I should have known! IIDB said nothing about universal credit being affected.

How they have the cheek to stop actual working peoples money, whilst not able to do their own jobs is a joke. I'm a carer and had my money stopped cause I can't login as my numbers changed. Can't change number cause I can't login. Call up to have the code sent in email, they cant press send.
I wonder how many others are having their money stopped for no real reason?

Just got paid uc and £58.06 has been deducted from my payment due to the decrese of payment protection esa will stay the same and with no warning its been quite a shock im disabled how on earth are people supposed to survive because its happening to everyone that has been transfered 😠😠

I wouldn't even give them any star ratings if i had the option.

Terrible service. If you log a complaint about the bad work coach, it gets sent to them to deal with. Thats like owning an insurance company, insuring yourself then processing your own insurance claims, major conflict of interest there !!!

The majority of staff have no idea what they are doing. There workflow and processes are awful and if they were used in a proper business the business wouldn't last 2 months !!!

They’re a joke

How are they a job centre when they don’t actually help you look for work they expect you to just upload evidence of you applying for jobs?

How are they gonna say they’re there to help when they kept on asking me for the same documentation 3 times and I provided it twice already? All they kept doing was changing instructions every time I done what they said which made no sense now they’re saying if I don’t upload the same thing (with different instructions) they’re going to cancel my agreement.

I’d rather struggle by myself than think I have help from the government when really they don’t care at all, complied with everything since the start but now they’re just a joke.

If you genuinely think these guys will help they don’t care at all about none of us the country we live in is a joke and would rather see people suffer.

They don't do phone appointment anymore!

Today I was expecting a phone appointment from Universal Credit for a 10 minute check up appointment. When the day and time came I waited for them to ring but no one did.

Upon checking the details they changed my appointment, which was agreed over the phone 3 months ago that it would continue to be phone appointments whilst I was on 'NHS Silver cloud' service. It was changed to in our Jobcentre appointment after they discovered that they gave me a date which fell on a bank holiday, they also changed it to in person appointment which no one explained to me.

Now after panicking and thinking I needed to rush to them they replied to my Journal message saying that they do not do phone appointments any more but can do video or in person appointments instead.

So I have been forced, a disabled man with multiple disabilities (Cerebral Palsy, Dyspraxia and extreme anxiety), to opt for the video appointment!

Very poor customer communications not explaining before hand that they got rid of phone appointments via people who got them regularly to their journals before their next appointment.

Asked for a budget loan as repaid last one and said no but they can to the junkies/alcoholics great country to live in!!!!!!!

On the plus side, payments do tend to arrive, and the website is surprisingly usable — which already feels like a small miracle.

Unfortunately, that’s about where the praise ends. The system itself is bafflingly illogical and, at times, impressively inhumane. Despite what some might suggest, migrants are hardly the issue here. Even the maximum support doesn’t come close to covering the needs of someone in psychiatric care.

Monthly payments make budgeting unnecessarily awkward, and if anything goes wrong, you’re left waiting weeks — or longer — with little hope of it being properly addressed, let alone compensated.

Altogether, it feels less like a support system and more like an elaborate exercise in patience — one that’s thoroughly out of touch with modern reality.