GOV.UK Reviews 111

Kevin Dyer, my good friend from many moons ago, we both live in recluse, we need our money and we need it bad, on a better note, the security are friendly and offered us a cigarette.

I visited the job centre and mentioned I have an interview they said they will assist with costs, never received anything even after sending information.
The trip to my interview is nine hours away and has now been changed to Thursday.
Sent journal messages, no reply!

**Very disappointing and demoralising experience**

Our family’s experience with Jobcentre Bedford has been extremely disappointing.

My 22-year-old son has significant difficulties and we have been trying to navigate both work support and the benefits system. Instead of feeling helped, listened to, or properly supported, the process has felt cold, dismissive and geared more towards finding reasons to refuse help than understanding the real barriers he faces.

The assessment process has not reflected the reality of his situation. Important context about his day-to-day difficulties, support needs and vulnerability seems to have been overlooked, and the outcome has left us feeling that the system is working against people who genuinely need help.

As a family, we are not trying to avoid responsibility. We are trying to find a realistic path forward for someone who needs proper support. Unfortunately, our experience has been that the Jobcentre process adds stress, confusion and pressure rather than practical help.

I appreciate staff are working within a wider system, but from a claimant and family perspective, the experience has been demoralising. People with disabilities, health conditions or complex needs deserve to be treated with more understanding, patience and humanity.

Based on our experience, I cannot recommend Jobcentre Bedford as a supportive place for vulnerable people or their families.

Very frustrating and dehumilating.

They duplicate my account and booked me for short 5 min consultation.Afterwards, they told me this booking never should take place ,its their mistake as I have consultation at Job Center in April so for next one I am eligible in AUGUST!!!! I was frozen shocked saying in the same time they still will provide support .When I asked them Im looking for a course they said they can not help me .I had to make phone calls that day to find out why I have not received a email from consulation.Finally ,I have found out they where blocking mine communication with the their career advisor themself but never admitted that .
The system is against the people who are on benefits, they do what they can to make it harder for you to make you come back to work!!!!

Ive had nothing but a terrible experience at the Spalding job centre, the guy on the door, very polite welcoming and friendly however ive had to now report 2 members of staff to their managers for how rude they have been & frankly unhelpful. The manager steve has reassured me that he would discuss this with both members of staff as they were actually offensive. Ive only had to sign on for 2 months as i moved here recently & lost my job. VERY DISAPPOINTED.

Have to call to close JSA claim. Wait ages on hold. Get hung up on. Sorry, but what are you doing?

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I have NEVER had a single positive experience with the job centre. I've been made to feel like a criminal scamming benefits, like I'm lazy, stupid, or overdramatic. The last time I had to claim, it was because my ex partner had assaulted me at my work, and I was forced to elave: when I recounted this to my assigned worker, I got upset and ended up shedding a few tears. He looked absolutely horrified, wouldn't look me in the eye, and changed the subject as quickly as possible. He made me feel like it was all for a sympathy show, and couldn't wait to get me out the door - no empathy or kindness whatsoever. I've had instances where I've requested my claim be closed, and assured that it was all done, only to be contacted a year later saying that I owed the DWP over £700 due to an error on their end. Yet I was still expected to pay it back. I've even had encounters where they called me to say 'Hey, you're entitled to X payment' and I've outright told them that I don't want it because I know it'll come with strings attached, and will likely bite me later down the line. The worker insisted it was all fine and I was legally entitled to it - guess what happened? Turns out I wasn't, and am now expected to pay it back again! When I queried it, a load of confusing jargon was thrown at me, to the point I got so worked up and confused that I just had to accept what they were telling me and pay them back money that I was supposedly entitled to. Communication was always an uphill battle, with nothing ever made clear, and a lot of the time I couldn't even understand the person I was talking to due to their accent/lack of English skills. I was always so worried about offending someone over this, that I didn't even feel I could ask to speak with another person without judgement, so often left appointments utterly confused and none the wiser as to what I was told. This 'service' is utterly disgusting, and I have never found decent work through the job centre - only ever off my own back. I don't know a SINGLE person with a good word to offer the DWP, and judging by the other reviews left here, I'm not surprised as to why. Get your act together and do better! Absolutely disgusting.

It would help to have staff their trained and up to date. After being made redundant applied the following day as redundant. It took one month to be processed and an appointment made. The staff seen my cv advised I could go for a job due to experience....explained my grades weren't high enough. Was advised a new store was opening locally in about a months time...when I checked online that store had been open for months. After I had secured a job I went to the centre to let them know, due to being so close to the pay deadline at work I told to come back in 2 weeks to sign off. I have since received a letter stating I now owe so much back or court action may be taken. I phoned on 3 occasions and explained NO ONE CALLS Back even after it's been escalated twice to an emergency call back.

I attend the job centre because I have to even though I have a job and a young child and I have to bring my daughter with me and she does find it hard to stay still , some of the staff are very unfriendly and rude.
Also I have always found my own jobs and the job centre had never found me a job

The entire set up and staff are not fit for purpose. It' a joke. They only send you letters which arrive 5-10 days after whatever it is they're telling you about. They make you attend appointments in person even once you've found a job and told them about it. You cannot contact them in any other way than phoning them and being on hold for minimum 30 minutes, whatever time you call. You can apply for jobseekers allowance online but nothing else at all is online, they don't confirm you're appointments in writing at all.
You have to call to tell them you've got a new job over the phone, and still have to go to your next appointment and tell them again in person at your and still they send you another payment, which they'll no doubt ask me to return, and they've sent me a letter saying I've not attended another appointment 2 weeks into starting my new job, which took 5 days to arrive, which is the fastest letter yet. To start with they never told me about the appointment because it obviously shouldn't have been made after I told them I was starting a new job 4 days after the previous appointment . And secondly they didn't tell me they'd made the appointment, so there was no option to tell them it was a mistake and I wouldn't be attending because I would be working. Sounds like neither the person on the phone or the person in the actual job centre I saw properly processed the fact hat I have job. I was unemployed for the grand total of 3 weeks and have almost wasted more time on dealing with the red tape and incompetence of the job centre than actually finding a job, I've certainly found it a lot more frustrating than dealing with companies and recruiters just not getting back to you. The job centre is the worst government department I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Everything it does makes it harder for people they are supposed to help.

Absolutely shite, sorry but this is the worse place to visit if trying to find a job, they will leave you feeling crushed depressed and hopeless, they never show up to the scheduled phone call appointments, leave you waiting half an hour and then ask you why you didn't attend???? Stupid pathetic system

The lady who dealt with my query, Maggie, was an absolute diamond. Held very good conversation, very engaging and helpful and if I had any queries in the future I’d definitely be happy to approach Maggie.

Job centre is a waste of people’s time and money. All they are interested in is checking if you have been job seeking, so as to ensure you remain eligible for the pittance of JSA.
No help to find jobs which may be suitable. No courses or support.
5 months out of work following redundancy and all the jobs applied for and any interviews have been found by myself.

As per my opinion Job Center Plus is just waist of taxpayers money. I cannot say anything bad about my coach, she was always friendly and nice, but that it. No help with the job search, no courses, no trainings, just nothing.
I've stopped coming there as my job-seeker allowances stopped and was still a job-seeker.
I do no see a point of this institution.

Disgusting service!!! No replys to my messages so when i arrive to the appointement they just cant help me so had to take off work for the appointement and now will need to take off work again. so how do they want us to make more money???

So many bad experiences it's hard to know where to start. But most recently, left sat in there waiting 50 minutes for my appointment, and after half an hour asked what was going on. I was then challenged "did you arrive late?", I said no, early actually. It turned out my new work coach had gone AWOL on her lunch break, the one who had literally turned round to look at me before walking out, so I thought "it must be another person". He said I would "just have to wait" until she comes back. When she did, she claimed that she didn't know I was there, despite looking straight at me, and me reporting in as soon as I arrived. If we're so much as 10 minutes late we get a sanction.

scammers they’re

Everytime I go to the job center in hayes the work coach dnt listen and are not helpful. They force you on courses which dnt benefit me. I said I'm lookin for retail work but my coach is forcing Me into civil service job. Today I went there an was spoken to rudely because I didn't apply to a course she sent me that I didn't want as its not what i want to get into. They have no respect an talk to us like we are a nuisance. They seem to forget they only have a job because we currently don't. Feel anxiety each time I have an appointment. Also I realise anything u mention they dnt pay attention to you. They are just trying to tick their boxes. People dnt know how to be kind, professional and respectful anymore.

BEDFORD BRANCH. 57 Bromham Road. My word; made to feel like a criminal or what. The experience with the two desk based Universal credit handlers was ok. But the back office staff supporting Giulia were awful. Just because you shut a door don’t mean people can’t hear you. As for Audrey at the job seeker desk. Clearly not happy in her role. Find someone who can smile and not judge people maybe?

The staff here are evidently unable to retain information or give proper advice. I have been messed around over part of my claim for many weeks because of the failure of the staff to clearly explain what was required on my part (a very simple matter). Due to the bad advice and delays, I have been fairly badly compromised, and the matter still hasn't been resolved. Very poor. They should be held to account for their negligence and misleading guidance.