A lovely tale for a Monday morning.

When Lesley Richmond had her disability benefit
stopped due to a change in Government criteria, her husband thought it
would be simple to get the extra money she was then due added to her
state pension.

Fifteen
months later, and after more than 120 telephone conversations with 58
different Pension Service staff, Geoff Richmond has changed his mind.

Although he has, at last, persuaded them to part with the £3.50 a week,
he found himself exasperated by the standard of service.

Helps to explain my inherent dislike of all things bureaucratic. Yes, I know, there are some large companies that are almost as bad but then I’m agin monopolies whether they are public or private. And for exactly this reason, that such monopolists don’t actually have to give a damn  about the customers.

It’s true that there are times when only The State can do something and if there is going to be a State pensions and benefit system at all then that’s one of them. But whenever there is a suggestion that The State should take over a job or service we should always remember this. The waste in terms of time effort and money the system will cause.