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<p>Since the start of the pandemic, we have received unprecedented levels of claims
for Universal Credit. This was accompanied by a significant increase in call volumes
which was impacting our ability to support customers, particularly those making new
claims.</p><p>To enable our people to pay customers their benefit, we implemented
a temporary pause to the handling of general queries through the telephony service
at the beginning and end of the day. The purpose of this change was to allow case
managers to focus on progressing claims during these times.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>New
claim appointments and new claims by phone remained open as usual.</p><p> </p><p>At
the moment, people making new claims for Universal Credit do not in fact need to call
the Department as part of the process and we have communicated that widely. Once they
have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any
of the information they have given us.</p><p>The Universal Credit helpline returned
to our normal operating hours from 11 May (8am-6pm, Monday to Friday).</p><p> </p>
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