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'Bully Boys' called today at home - Social Services & Council Benefit Officer

racyguy

Door bell rang at 9.10am - opened door to find two intimidating men standing there.
Both showed me their warrant cards. They asked my name and told me that they would like to come inside to talk to me. Not happy with their demeanour I obviously asked if they had a warrant to enter my home.
Thankfully they did not have one so I politely told them that they should stand where they were and talk to me at the door.
The conversation started with the Social Worker saying that he had concerns about my welfare and that he had tried to contact me by telephone. I told him that my welfare is none of his business, I have all of my marbles. He then asked if he could talk to my wife. I refused him as she was having a bath upstairs. The Council guy then wanted to know why I had recently closed down a CT Support claim and that he was aware that I was having problems with my CT account. There was never a CTS claim - I closed a Pension Credit claim. He then asked me why had I not made a CTS claim. That was my business not theirs. Then he asked if I would give him details of our income and he could complete a claim now.
By this time I was getting rather annoyed - two strangers come to my home and tried their best to make entry then wanted to know all about our finances.
At this point I told them to 'sling their hook' and leave the property.

I have a photo of each of them and of their warrant cards showing their names.

I can deal with anybody but those two really put the wind up me.

Is this a normal way for those to deal with business - calling unannounced, early in the morning and clearly wanting to enter my home?

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Comments

poppy123456

They showed their identity cards so i don't see what the issue is here. You complained not long ago that you could no longer claim means tested benefits because there was no help out there for you. You constantly moaned about this, thread after thread.

Then you were contacted out of the blue, which was obvious that they wanted to help you. You didn't return their call so they knocked at your door, again trying to offer some help and support.

Quite unbelieveable really that you refused their offer of help and shut the door on them. They wanted to know your finances simply to try to help you.

Astonishing really! Am i missing something here??

poppy123456

Another thing i forgot to mention. Warrants? They don't need a warrant because they are not there to "search your home" they were there to help you. Yes, i did say help you. They weren't there to arrest you.

janer1967

I think you should see this as a offer of help which you have been saying has not been available to you and that you have not been able to get hone visits in the past

Now you have had a home visit you don't want it

I agree you were not informed of this but they did try to contact you

I think there has been a concern over your welfare that has been flagged to social services through what you have been going through with your council tax

You should engage with them to get the help you have been reaching out for on here so you can try and get all your benefits you are eligible for

Sandy_123

I have to agree that it would be better to except the help that they are offering.

Cartini

Wow! Serious attitude problem there. Shutting the door on someone who is concerned about the welfare of a person is unbelievable.

SueHeath

mmmmmm Not sure what to think on this one.
If it was me i don't think i would of let them in.
I would prefer it if a letter was sent out first, with the reason of their visit.
You hear of that many clever scams lately.

poppy123456

SueHeath said:

I would prefer it if a letter was sent out first, with the reason of their visit.
You hear of that many clever scams lately.

To be fair, they did try ringing first and spoke to their partner. They asked them to call them back but the OP didn't. They also showed their ID badges.

Tori_Scope

Though they were probably trying to help, I can see why you might have felt a bit caught off guard or worried as you weren't expecting a visit from them @racyguy.

Do you have any contact details you could use to get back in touch with them, perhaps to arrange a meeting to have a chat about what kind of support you might like to access?

SueHeath

Ahh right @poppy123456 didn't realise that bit - but i still wouldn't just let people in with their ID passes if i wasn't expecting anyone.

poppy123456

The thing is, they've done nothing but moan about not getting any help then they throw it back at them when someone tries to help.

poppy123456

Biblioklept said:

The poster needs help with their benefit claims, not welfare checks and little communication. It's also not the initial claim they have trouble with it's the managing it once it's active with variations in income each month.

The council benefits officer would do exactly that. They would also help with future issues too.

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

They showed their identity cards so i don't see what the issue is here. You complained not long ago that you could no longer claim means tested benefits because there was no help out there for you. You constantly moaned about this, thread after thread.
Then you were contacted out of the blue, which was obvious that they wanted to help you. You didn't return their call so they knocked at your door, again trying to offer some help and support.
Quite unbelieveable really that you refused their offer of help and shut the door on them. They wanted to know your finances simply to try to help you.
Astonishing really! Am i missing something here??

I am in no doubt that I could complete the claim as I have said previously. I have also made the point many times that the completion of the form is the easy bit - it's what happens afterwards I find difficulty with. I have been through hell and back with the Pension Service since 2019 simply because I have been told by them that I must notify in writing every time any of my monthly net pensions differ by as little 1p each from what they already know - ie every month as the tax system does not deduct the same level of tax each month. This is far to erroneous for me to contemplate - hence the reason for the two investigations and a Tribunal hearing. I don't need or want this aggravation anymore. You must think that I have not attempted to find someone to visit me every month, copy the latest bank statement and pension advices and sending this information with a covering letter to the PS.

Do you honestly and genuinely believe that having someone/visiting officer call on me every month is possible?

On top of that to find two men/strangers at my front door early morning with no prior notification and want to come into my home to talk to me is acceptable? They were lucky that I even answered the door in the first place.

racyguy

Cartini said:

Wow! Serious attitude problem there. Shutting the door on someone who is concerned about the welfare of a person is unbelievable.

Not unusual at all.
I lost a close relative earlier this year My 38 year old niece hung herself at home as she could see no future for herself. Social Services were fully aware of her situation and had tried a couple of times to see her. Conveniently for her at the time she was able to be 'away' from her home so as to avoid contact with them.
At the inquest last week the presiding judge slated Social Services for not making further and better efforts in making sure that she had the help she desperately needed.

I don't need any involvement from Social Services due to our financial position.
So yes it was OK to refuse to deal with that individual.
As for the Council employee, he had an attitude that led me to believe that if he wanted to come into my home he would do so. Letting him in was one thing how would you propose I manage to get him out - just ask him nicely?

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

The thing is, they've done nothing but moan about not getting any help then they throw it back at them when someone tries to help.

As I have said many times the help I need is for someone on a monthly basis to help manage the claim not really to help make the claim initially. I can access the online version both for Pension Credit as well as CT Support.
It's the management aspect that creates the investigations that I have already been through - 2016 - 2019 and 2019 - Jan 2020. I could not face another.
What with losing almost a stone in weight through the stress of them as well doing everything possible to get the current years CT liability sorted at the expense of cutting back on water, heating, lighting and food.

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

Biblioklept said:

The poster needs help with their benefit claims, not welfare checks and little communication. It's also not the initial claim they have trouble with it's the managing it once it's active with variations in income each month.

The council benefits officer would do exactly that. They would also help with future issues too.

No they would not! I had previously and during the meeting I had with them to sort out the CT matter, asked/pleaded if someone could come out monthly to help me manage the PC/CTS claim if I made one.
They used to when I needed their help back in 2013 when I first made the PC claim. In fact he was quite a regular visitor sometimes just popping over to see me checking if everything was OK.

Cartini

racyguy said:

Cartini said:

Wow! Serious attitude problem there. Shutting the door on someone who is concerned about the welfare of a person is unbelievable.

Not unusual at all.
I lost a close relative earlier this year My 38 year old niece hung herself at home as she could see no future for herself. Social Services were fully aware of her situation and had tried a couple of times to see her. Conveniently for her at the time she was able to be 'away' from her home so as to avoid contact with them.
At the inquest last week the presiding judge slated Social Services for not making further and better efforts in making sure that she had the help she desperately needed.

I don't need any involvement from Social Services due to our financial position.
So yes it was OK to refuse to deal with that individual.
As for the Council employee, he had an attitude that led me to believe that if he wanted to come into my home he would do so. Letting him in was one thing how would you propose I manage to get him out - just ask him nicely?

Your opening paragraphs seem to contradict.

Your posts on here tend to be quite aggressive / unsociable; maybe you misread a completely innocent care visit.

I don`t want to get into a bun-fight over this other than to say I agree with the comment Poppy12345 made earlier.

racyguy

Cartini said:

Your opening paragraphs seem to contradict.
Your posts on here tend to be quite aggressive / unsociable; maybe you misread a completely innocent care visit.
I don`t want to get into a bun-fight over this other than to say I agree with the comment Poppy12345 made earlier.

.The thing is, they've done nothing but moan about not getting any help then they throw it back at them when someone tries to help........The council benefits officer would do exactly that. They would also help with future issues too.

Poppy appears to be able to suggest that the Council guy would do everything to ensure that we make a new PC claim and that the claim is maintained correctly.

Obvious I am not one to mince my words or call out someone if I think that their comments are wrong.
No I certainly don't want Social Services involved in our lives - I have bitter experience of the problems they create.
Still, I did take Poppy's comments onboard and sought out to see if what she said would happen would actually happen.
After weeks that turned into months, The Council guy came back round to see me this last week. He told me that making a claim is very easy and that he can do it now. I know that to be the case anyhow. What I really wanted to know what was his take on as regards the maintenance of a new PC claim.
He had no idea what I was talking about and said that there would be no need to report changes in income as the Pension Service would get that info from the DWP computer system. OK I suppose then that the Pension Service were wrong in demanding overpayments going back as far as 2016 for a failure to report changes income? That confused him further and I showed him the two compliance reports and the Tribunal Hearing documents.
I had to explain that the Pension Service were not able to access any information from the DWP computer regarding my many private pensions/annuities all of which were taxed. I further showed him how the income varies each month for all of those sources of income because of the way the tax system works.
All he could say that he had never come across a PC claim that involved private taxable income.

He then understood my predicament and my inability to deal with all of these changes every month.
Finally he had to apologise in that he or his department would not be able to take on board this work on a monthly basis - sorry.
He then understood (a) why I had closed down my PC award earlier this year and (b) why I was unable to notify the Pension Service each month for every pension payment - it was far too much for me to undertake. He did ask me what the issue was that was causing the problem - mental health - brain damage.
We parted in a friendly manner and he hoped that I could find a way around my problem.

So there, the Council would not take on board the monthly reporting being demanded by the Pension Service.
I do have to admit that he was upset and a little annoyed that we were not getting the financial help that we so clearly were entitled to because of a rule that was totally inflexible.

L_Volunteer

That sounds really tough @racyguy. I can hear your frustrations. What do you think might help this to feel and become more manageable for you at the moment? We are here for you if you would like to talk this through further with us

racyguy

L_Volunteer said:

That sounds really tough @racyguy. I can hear your frustrations. What do you think might help this to feel and become more manageable for you at the moment? We are here for you if you would like to talk this through further with us

Thank you for those kind words and thoughts.
Unfortunately, all of the talking in the world is not really going to help.
What I do ask for is that the Pension Service come up with a working solution by offering alternatives. I have already sent them 3 letters over the past 8 months and the only reply I received was that I must notify them in writing every time there is a change in income (private pensions) of at least 1p (up or down). That means 5 reports (5 pensions) - monthly with supporting evidence (bank statements & payslips).

racyguy

Biblioklept said:

I can't recall but did you ever approach your MP about this @racyguy?

Yes, I did, back in late March I believe. Fortunately for me I know him well and he came round to my home to see what the problem was. I explained that I felt it necessary to cancel my PC claim as I could not face another investigation nor attempt to write so many reports every month backing up each with the appropriate evidence.

He told me that he would contact the Pension Service the following day and come back to see me when he had any information that might help.

About four weeks later he called round and was to be honest more annoyed with the information he had been given than I was.

Seems that the Pension Service are wanting to play 'hardball' with me considering the past history of failing to notify of any increases/decreases from 2016 to 2022. They suggested that the real reason, maybe, is that I have been using the 'SMOP' system of ensuring that any overpayment of benefit from any one particular source cannot be recovered if that overpayment is currently less than £65 - too expensive to recover.
This is evidenced, so the Pension Service say, that for the last investigation of the 5 pensions I received, all of them caused underpayments which were less than £65 each so they could not be collected.

But he agreed with me that notwithstanding their opinion I am still entitled to reasonable adjustments. One of those adjustments that were put to the PS - review at the end of the year with the P60. This was refused with the PS arguing that I would simply never repay any overpayment created each year as it would always fall under the SMOP limit either accidentally or intentionally.
The only pressure that they can put on me is for them to shut my claims down for failing to notify them of changes within 30 days or keep on opening investigations.

My MP is still on the case demanding that they do find suitable adjustments due to my disabilities.