The Benefits Journey - pt 1

So now that I'm not working it's time to claim some benefits. I've been paying into this system for long enough, it's time to get something back.

Housing benefit was easy enough, I was able to do that online and while it seemed like quite a lot of questions I got there in the end. The payments for this have gone up and down and every time you give them some new information it's re-assessed. However, I think I've finally got my head around it and now it's time to apply for income support, or whatever it's called.

I figured this would also be pretty straight forward, a quick search online and it seems I can apply over the phone, saving me a trip to the job centre. I phoned up. I was on the phone for about an hour going through a long list of questions. I was quite happy with this and at the end of the call I was given an appointment to speak to someone at the job centre. Not ideal but there are hoops you have to jump through and this was the first. I was offered an appointment the same day so I took it knowing that I needed to go shopping in the same area anyway.



I got there and they had no record of my appointment, this didn't really surprise me as I'd just got off the phone about half an hour before I arrived there. They figured out that I did have an appointment and after a short wait I heard my name called by a very stern sounding male voice. I went over and the bloke surprisingly pleasant. However, he didn't really know why I was there. After a short conversation it became clear that I needed to fill in a form. Not surprising really. This form is a long one though, and I need to do my shopping and get home for the kids getting home after school. I made my excuses and left clutching a 62 page form that we were just about to go through.

From this I am presuming the phone call didn't really achieve anything as after a quick flick through the form a lot of the questions are looking very familiar. I thought I was there to present some ID but it seems I'm there to repeat my life story. Anyway, I've got an appointment to go back next week with the form filled in. So that's something to look forward to.

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