You got a problem with that...? Then (please don't) ask your MP!

So I'm a month into my now not so new job as a caseworker for a local MP.

It's been.... interesting.

My role is constituency based so it involves dealing with all the local issues residents have, rather than requests to the MP to raise something nationally or internationally.

TBH the later is probably a lot more interesting, the former queries are often very parochial. Sometimes they are 'worthy' enquires that really do demand an MP's attention, others, however, most definitely do not!

I can't go into details about individual cases, as you can imagine, the office is extremely sensitive about GDPR.

But I can talk about things in aggregate.

Some of the HOT areas ATM are...

1. The Winter Fuel Allowance, lots of people asking about that to be reinstated.
2. Travel: roads, trains, buses, locally there are lots of problems.
3. Planning is a perpetual one, thankfully I have nothing to do with that!
4. Benefits, particularly complaints to the DWP about the sheer length of time it takes for applications to go through, both in terms of reviews and complaints, and original applications.

Slow going....

It takes A LONG TIME to deal with many of the cases I get.... which are mainly housing and benefits related.

Weirdly, which is something i didn't expect, drafting a response, or a letter to a minister only takes about half the time, it takes just as long to treble check to the grammar, find out who the hell I should be sending the letter to, often the information online is incorrect....

I wrote to one minister the other day, who according to my reply works under a different department to the one it says they do online, for example, this is all just bloody annoying.

We have a 190 page document of contacts we can use, like special access to every government department, mayors and a whole load of other people, direct MP hotlines. They are actually very efficient.

Grammar and style checking also take ages.... I mean literally everything has to be perfect. This isn't my strong point either, so I have to be extra careful. Lots of checks!

Please don't ask your MP about....

There's a whole load of things....

BASICALLY ANYTHING that should be dealt with at a LOCAL COUNCIL LEVEL! Your MP IS NOT going to get involved personally in a planning application, for example.

Family or personal matters where it's you VERSUS someone else, we can't verify the truth of claims and counter claims just by listening to one person.

Business matters... for example we are not going to contact a social media company on your behalf because you've had your Twitter account shut down.

We sympathise with all of the above, but we cannot act on your behalf.

What we can do...

Basically it's policy advocacy at a national level, campaigns for improving local services based on LOTS of cases, not one case, and we only intervene in the most serious, desperate individual cases, where there have been the most serious delays in processing DWP benefits applications for example.

Oddly I've discovered that people need an MP to refer their Child Maintenance cases to the ombudsman, which is odd... with most other ombudsmen you DIY, but with this one it requires an MP referral!

New Job final thoughts....

I got told last week they are keeping me on until Christmas, it's still only a temp role, but I'm quite up for a bit longer, 3 days a week is a nice balance, it saves me all that driving in my previous job, and the office team are nice, not that I'm in the office much, they seem to be pretty happy with me WFH 1-2 days a week.

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