DWP take the biscuit

Having finished the Tribunal case, my employment ceased at the company so in August 2016, I found myself making a claim for Job Seekers Allowance.  Having spent almost 30 minutes on the telephone registering my claim, I was very impressed with the woman I spoke to, she actually rang my local job centre to book an induction loop for my appointment, then called me back to confirm that indeed, there would be an induction loop set up for me when I arrived.

When I arrived for my appointment I saw the "ear" sign on the front desk, this indicated that indeed an induction loop was installed, super smashing great, NOT, ha ha bloody ha, yes you guessed correctly, that's all it was, a picture of an ear.  When I switched my hearing aids on to the loop nothing happened and in response to my inquiry about said loop, I was informed that there wasn't one.  So I asked "Why not?" I knew for a fact that one had been requested for me.  No acceptable response was given so I made a complaint in writing.

I received a reply to my complaint with the excuse that most of the staff were new and were not familiar with the induction loop system. I was not at all impressed and said as much.  I let it be known that every time I sign on for some benefits I am confirming something, as deaf person, I will be prosecuted if I sign and am found guilty of lying about my circumstances.  The induction loop is meant to help me to hear more clearly and eliminate some of the misunderstanding.

I then complained to DWP and received an email saying that in future there would be an induction loop provided for me at all my appointments and thanking me for drawing attention to the need for equipment for people with all kinds of disabilities.  The chap who sent the email assured me that he wanted everybody to have all their needs met.

Well, I started my new job three months later in November and still the induction loop had failed to materialise.  Why am I not surprised?  Now we hear that DWP are closing a whole load of job centres down, and people are going to have to travel further afield to sign on.... So it strikes me it is no wonder my induction loop didn't materialise because it looks like redundancies are looming for the DWP staff and I hope to goodness they suffer from being treated like lazy bastards that can't be arsed to get up and find a job - poetic justice is what I say!