Staffers – unsung heroes, who support each and every Member of Parliament in delivering for their constituents

Ever thought about working for an MP? Around each Member of Parliament is a small team of staff, split between their parliamentary and constituency office. This usually includes a diary secretary or office manager, communications officer and case workers who help ensure each MP delivers for their area and can respond to the thousands of emails, letters, meeting requests and phone calls they receive every year. The work can be rewarding, complex, frustrating and varied in equal measure.

Here we talk to an experienced case worker from Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife’s office, about their job and one of the big challenges they face, dealing with the DWP.

What issues do Constituents contact about and background:
I have worked as a caseworker for almost three years. I love my job supporting Constituents but every year I’ve seen my role become more complex and challenging especially when dealing with DWP cases.

When I first started, I could spend a couple of hours on a case, now I’m spending weeks, months and even years without achieving resolution.

My job is to listen to constituents, to offer support and problem solve, often complex life situations, reaching out to the relevant agencies or department directly when the Constituent cannot secure answers, or navigate the benefits world. It takes time, patience and empathy.

When a Constituent comes to you with a DWP issue, how do you usually handle the case?
I secure consent and as much information as possible to try to understand the problem and then telephone DWP and/or write a letter to the relevant department, DWP Minister and/or try to escalate via the MP Correspondence Team.

Increasingly, we are dealing with vulnerable and isolated Constituents, who are distressed and in mental health crisis.

As a Scottish office that is complicated by the sometimes-devolved nature of our casework.

The complexity of the DWP issues we are dealing with is increasing and can include:
• Constituents seeking update on their Work Capability Assessments which they have been waiting over a year for a decision on.
• Questions about Social Security Scotland the DWP from applicants whose Universal Credit has been reduced due to back-payments in Social Security benefits.
• Pensioners who can’t go online and can’t speak to anyone on the phone who are seeking support with their state pension, their sole income, and are worried about the cost of heating their home.
• Convoluted benefits issues which often overhelp with health, housing, education, and social work concerns.
• Support requests from households whose benefits have been cut due to DWP errors.


How straight forward is this process in practice?
Although I’m not a benefits expert, I have undertaken benefits training to best equip me for handling the cases. Despite this, I quite often I’m learning as I go, encountering unique situations and complex cases. Working in a rural community, there is limited support, and other agencies are struggling to cope with the demand for advocacy and are signposting to the MP’s office.

I have to know which benefits interact with one another, how the different DWP systems operate, what discretion can be applied, what support is available, how a change of circumstances can impact a household.

MPs offices are given the direct hotlines to raise cases, but as many caseworkers will know, this is not always a streamlined process. We have the same challenges as Constituents when trying to access the relevant department and get answers. We spend hours on the phone trying to speak to someone, meantime we are receiving multiple calls from a distressed constituent. A lot of time is spent calling different DWP departments as they do not communicate internally, but often cases involve aspects from several departments.

The benefits cap also complicates the process and means it is not as simple as saying someone is “entitled” to a particular benefit. Claiming one payment can affect their eligibility for another, creating a complex system that is extremely difficult for claimants to understand, especially as these interactions are not clearly explained. We have already seen the consequences of this confusion in the Carer’s Allowance scandal, where people were unknowingly overpaid and later left facing debts and financial hardship, despite trying to follow the rules.

Are there any cases that particularly highlight the difficulties within the system?
I have a case involving a family who receive Universal Credit alongside a private pension, Carer’s Support Payment from Social Security Scotland, and now a State Pension. The family includes parents of different ages, and the lead parent has severe dyslexia. He has been involved with the DWP benefits system for 18 years due to his own disabilities and those of his children, who have complex needs.

Until now, the children’s support has been dependent on their parent’s DWP claim. They have now become adults, which means they must apply for benefits in their own right. This is not an automatic DWP process and involves a complicated application process with the layers of complexity that will ensue.

They need support, and their father must act as advocate. He has taken part in consultations with the DWP to explain how the system has affected his family. He has also said that the stress and complexity of dealing with benefits has seriously harmed his mental health and led him to consider suicide.

This case alone has been open for 2 years, there have been hundreds of actions taken by myself, including lengthy meetings with the Constituent, phone calls, letters and multiple emails to DWP, compounded by research I have undertaken to try to understand the layers of benefits and it’s still ongoing.

There are also wider delays within the DWP – departments have a goal response time for letters of 20 working days, but we have some cases where we have been waiting over 180 days for a response. The move from older benefits to Universal Credit has produced a backlog and increased waiting times for responses to MPs, and Universal Credit being mainly online makes things even harder for people who struggle with digital systems.

When we do receive replies, they can be 6 pages long and full of DWP technical terminology, abbreviations and figures that are difficult to understand. Despite the fact that the DWP tells MPs that their letters are in plain and accessible English, this is not our experience at all. As a caseworker I often need to seek clarity from DWP, then rewrite and explain their response to the family in plain language, both in writing and in person. In practice, this means the same work has to be done twice, which adds further delay.

What changes could DWP make to allow MPs to better support their constituents?
If DWP could create a clear guide for MPs offices that explained departmental structures, which departments communicate with each other, and resources to improve efficiency, it would go a long way to improving the caseworker experience and ultimately service the Constituent’s needs. The fact that most departments do not communicate with each other makes everything much more difficult and time consuming.

It would also be beneficial if the Job Centre was better equipped to support constituents through joined up working with benefits advisors.

Finally, if the DWP seriously simplified the language they use in their letters, and set out their calculations clearly, it would help both our constituents and us.