Case managers at Winz

Winz have a policy thats been operateing for some months now that you do not have an individual case officer and you see whoever is avaliable. This is meant to improve efficency.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Winz about comming of the Invalids Benifit and going onto the Sickness Benefit as my health is stable enough for me to work 20 hours per week. The guy we got told us he knew nothing about either benefit and he had to go get someone else to help him out.

Today I had another Winz appoint to sort out an allowerance which I am able to get. I went in with all the paperwork and an email from another Winz case worker who had helpped me out saying I was entitled to the allowerance, it would be at x amount etc. After spending an hour sitting there with him tapping away at the keyboard he said he had no idea how to process the application and he would have to talk to someone when they got back in the office and made another appointment for tomorrow. In the mean time I had wasted an hour and atm I am really busy gettings ready for the shift.

argh, I'm going to be having to deal with them soon. I'm really not looking forward to it.

Yeah, its horrific....I got a letter just a couple of days ago saying I owed 190$...rung o8oo...not that they could see. Someone on my behalf visited in person to the service department, they were quite embarrased apparently, not anything owing, and a computer generated letter.....so...why the hell have a letter generating....that has no basis.....

I have an elderly Mum, and at one meeting that came up, and the winz woman said bluntly....well at her age she should be in a rest home......

RUDE....not her place to say such things, that is not what they are there for. Sadly to many officious people in jobs such as.....they need to be in some of the positions we have been in and get some feelings and humility.

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So sorry Wow. and for your son. It does get that way that it would be simpler to tell winz to stick it, but indeed, like you say, we all need money....got, by short and curlies.

Catch twenty 2, when we dont have the self esteem, its hard to go out and quals etc too. I dont know what the answers are...I just think, if schools see kids who are suffering low esteems, what a huge shame they dont have resources available to aid kids in need. God knows the devastation low self esteems cause.

They dont have a clue in there.

Wowinnz, has your son tried joining a temp agency? It takes out a lot of the stress of finding a job. I got my first major job while working as a temp.

I'm currently on an invalid benefit, and now feeling capable of beginning paid part time work. I am on a waiting list to see Catapult Employment Services (disability employment agency), here in Christchurch, but the waiting list is ENORMOUS (it was about 2 months long when I signed up).

So, while waiting, I decided to do 3x things:

1) Go volunteer somewhere (which I do but there aren't too many voluntary office admin jobs in this city right now for obvious reasons, so I have few hours/week)

2) Job hunt independently

3) Contact my WINZ case manager for ideas on what I can do while I wait

I did recall hearing something about there no longer being individual case managers, but I assumed I'd misheard, as that seems quite silly to me.

Previously (ie in previous years) I've had a direct email address to my WINZ case manager and they've always responded (even when I was REALLY unwell and what I wrote was not very intelligible).

Now, no one responds at my old case manager's address, and I was told she's since been let go by Work and Income.

So I emailed the main WINZ website asking them for assistance with my inquiry, but there's been no response, and I've been trying for quite some time to get in touch.

I want to email them because I am prone to not getting my words immediately correct when talking to anyone (ie I'm 90% fine but, when I lose my train of thought, it completely goes haywire).

To get around this problem, I studied 2 years of office administrative courses at CPIT (NZQA levels 2, then 3), and I'm now realistically qualified to work (though employment agencies tend to be avoiding me as I used to contact them all the time and now one or two seem to dislike me).

The main question says this new initiative is meant to "improve efficiency" (quoted from the text), but I disagree. As someone who's formally had a brain injury on par with a stroke victim, my social self confidence is somewhat low, even though I can now come across (offline) almost as though nothing's wrong (not always this way, but 90% of the time now). My voice used to be confused, stuttery and forgetful, so I feel predisposed to sounding this way whenever I get into a conversation, which is distracting (do I sound like a freak right now? - I think), and can be quite intimidating.

Without a regular case manager to get to know and bridge that gap of lacking self confidence, each phonecall made to Work and Income becomes an exercise in self criticism, loss of train of thought due to nervousness, and sometimes (only occasionally now, but it used to be always) provoking an onset of mild, and quite uncomfortable vertigo (due to my central nervous system momentarily malfunctioning).

I can volunteer, I am qualified, I'm not even a complete idiot anymore, but contacting Work and Income, when I'm on the invalid benefit (which is the correct one for me), and risking WINZ suddenly seeing my voluntary capabilities, recent tertiary qualification, and keenness to be employed, I'm concerned they're going to label me as now 'recovered' and I'll be put onto the dpb and expected to magically conjure up a job to go to when no employer wants to take the risk of employing me (based on my health history).

Having no case managers now isn't efficiency, it's ridiculous and generalises everyone who requires a benefit by assuming they're in a position to simply rock into WINZ and get the job hunting process underway.

I think this is nothing more than the government trying to cut costs and saving money by limiting the number of case managers. I also think they're closing the doors of communication to some people and hoping that many will have to physically go and see them, under the theory that WINZ can then keep their attention until a plan is found to get them employed in a non existent job, because there are few jobs available except to those in construction (CHCH), high level people with qualifications and experience oozing out their ears, or those who just *look* amazingly capable.

It's government cost cutting and euphemising lacking employment by saying they have a "new initiative" when they don't.

Before start any work.....first analyze it, and carefully start.

WINZ is a abysmal unless you're lucky to get the right person on that day.

I'd not had a benzo for panic attacks in like a year and found myself taking them after most WINZ appointments when they dropped a new bomb. One time I was shaking so bad I needed a spoon to cut it because if it were knife it I'd probably have missed the pill. Severe lack of communication and miscommunication so was never told things, just found them out at the wrong time with noone to explain it and no time to prepare.

It's also really hard to explain depression and anxiety issues to people who can't understand them without really having experience them. They seemed to have ideas like since the medical certificate expired they were magically cured. If it was the one case manager you could explain it and they'd get to understand it but not with a different person every time. Takes too long and to be fair, if you're like me, you really don't like explaining yourself.

The weird thing was, they kept trying to send me on courses that weren't appropriate, not once did they ever suggest something to try or even some jobs that might be suitable.

That said I did eventually talk to the right person and with the assistance of one of their co-operating organisations helped me get a job at the place I'd been volunteering at for 3 years.

Take the reins and try to steer it in a direction you want, take action on your on behalf and maybe they can help. I Seriously do not suggest waiting on them.

I think to meet with them we could have profit.