social security advisers

Proposal to ease the problems of social security claimants.

Even an educated extrovert, with a high IQ, can find dealing with social security hard going. Most claimants are none of these, if they were they’d probably be working. Some claimants can’t even read and some of these are too embarrassed to ask for help. So, instead of the current system of folk going into the imposing? smelly, dirty office buildings of the DSS; having to struggle to obtain basic benefit from staff who (let’s be honest now) sometimes behave as if the cash was coming out of their own wages; we need something better. And if this system also benefits the staff, we can kill two birds with one stone.
Unless you have ever seen confrontation between a claimant (no; they are definitely not customers - it is an insult to call them this) and a member of staff you won’t understand this bit…claimants should no longer have to sit opposite someone ⁄ behind ⁄ a ⁄ protective ⁄ barrier asking them for money. DSS staff should no longer have to deal directly with the public. Instead…there could be social ⁄ security ⁄ advisers, a bit like solicitors. One would go into their office and sit down next to them, discuss circumstances and be told what claims can be made. The forms could then be filled in by the social ⁄ security ⁄ adviser on behalf of the claimant to ensure the full entitlement is paid. This would also relieve DSS staff from the pressures of dealing with antagonistic claimants.