I hate the government
Just when things were starting to pick up a little chez Fords, I’m sitting here trying my hardest not to cry out of pure frustration.
As our financial situation isn’t all that fantastic at the moment, I was advised by my midwife that I am eligible for a maternity grant from the government, which means I fill out a form, she signs it, I send it off and I get £500 for the baby. So far so good.
I sent the form off just before Christmas and got a letter back, saying that I don’t qualify because I didn’t include some certificate. News to me. So I phone them up asking them what that means, only to be told that on the page where the midwife signs there is a box she should have ticked, confirming that she has given me health advice. I point out that well dur, of course she bloody has – she’s my friggin midwife!! I then asked the woman to add this to the application, seeing as it’s such a minor detail, but she insists that I must fill out yet another form. I point out that in the letter I have I can confirm on the phone any minor adjustments to the application but she’s having none of it.
Now, for the sake of one stupid tickbox that I could have ticked myself (or someone at the DWP for that matter) I have to fill out yet another form and wait even longer for money that I am legally entitled to. How do I explain to a newborn that because the Department for Work and Pensions is such a fuckup of a government department Mummy and Daddy can’t afford to buy it anything?
