Jun 152022
DPAC were contacted by an individual who was having difficulties renewing his Access to Work. He had been told that their backlog meant his AtW package would not be renewed before it ran out and that in the meantime he would have to pay for his own support.
He successfully challenged this and suggested we share what he did in order to help others in similar situations for which we are grateful.
He says:
“The internal complaint being raised has resulted in my being contacted by a renewal case manager yesterday who will complete my renewal review on ahead of schedule.
The three important steps in my case were as follows –
(i) Phone call to AtW speak to staff and confirm that they advise the internal complaint route if your circumstances warrant it and show that expected delay(s) would aggravate conditions / cause detriment. Its important to do this so you can tell the AtW staff member that you complained as a result of advice from their colleagues – this carries more weight.
(ii) Submit a letter of complaint to atw.
(iii) Phone call to AtW a couple of working days after the letter has been submitted in order to confirm they have it , then explain to the AtW staff member why you need the case escalated in this manner. This call with prompt the AtW member of staff to complete an online note of their system, creating the complaints process timetable and generating an auto-reply within 24 hours explaining the process.
It was within 24 hours of the last phone call I made to AtW that i was contacted by a renewal case manager to start the renewal process.”
