Geraldine Kennedy Kirklees Council

Monday 20th January 2020 Today I was in the office and attending the pre booked Maths revision day with Amanda from Escalla.  We spent several hours going over different maths processes and she helped with any aspects that I wasn't confident with.  I found the revision time really helpful and Amanda explained things really well.  Tuesday 21st January Today I was in the office, on my usual day off work.  I have completed the level 2 Maths Functional skills exam online this afternoon, after spending the morning revising again with Amanda.  Even wit hall the revision, I found the exam difficult in places.  I was very disappointed that I ran out of time on the first, none calculator section.  I only managed to get through 12 of the 15 questions.  It made me a bit distracted then carrying on with the next section of the exam.  My mind goes blank and I get in a panic sometime when I have a timer to keep to.  I managed to get through...

Monday 13th January Today I was completing my off the job training as per my otj record Wednesday 15th January Today was spent in the office, working through set work allocated on a spreadsheet.  This involved accepting atlas for pension credit uprates from April 2020. We start getting a high volume of these every year to process.  Some of them are auto processed by the system which can cause errors in the claim income which need be checked carefully.  For example if a claimant is in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credits, for some reason, the system removes this income from the claim between January and April each year, which benefit officers then have to amend.  The issue has been raised with my team manager, who has confirmed she will speak to the officers in charge of the auto processing to try and find a solution. Thursday 16th January Today has been more of the work from the atlas spreadsheet, which I started yesterday.  I also worked on matched a...

Monday 6th January Working from home, using my allocated apprenticeship time to cover work as per my OTJ record.  I finished early today due to it being my birthday. Wednesday 8th January Today I have been working through my matched documents in Anite.  Checking through the evidence provided by claimants, making sure all the requested information has been provided and then I have updated the relevant claims.  I was also allocated an atlas spreadsheet which consisted of DWP updates for claimants who are in receipt of Pension Credits.  We receive a lot at this time of year due to the uprated figures which usually begin in April. Thursday 9th & Friday 10th January Over these two days, the Northgate benefit processing system is offline due to essential updates.  I have worked in the office on Thursday and I have completed mandatory training requirements on Mipod extra.  The training items I covered were: Stress Awareness, He...

Monday 30th December Working from home mainly doing apprenticeship work as per my OTJ record. Wednesday 1st - Bank Holiday Thursday 2nd January First day back in the office today, after the Christmas period, where I had been working from home.  Today I worked through an allocated spreadsheet, with UC atlas updates to go through and process for changes in income and also went through my expired work in images to re contact claimant's who had not responded to an initial letter and suspending their claims and also updating claims with existing information for those who were out of time to provide the requested proofs. Friday 3rd January Today I have been working through UC pdf's allocated in Anite.  These detail changes in income or household for claimant's with active claims for Council Tax Reduction.

Monday 23rd  December Working from home on my apprenticeship as per otj training record. Wednesday 25th Dec - Thursday 26th December Christmas holidays Friday 27th December Today I have been working from home as our building is closed for the Christmas break. I have been allocated UC pfd's in anite for me to assess.  Some are for changes in income on already active CTR claims but the majority of them are for new claims who don't match up to any person or address already on our system.  For these I have had to check council tax records for the address of the UC claim to make sure this person is liable to pay Council Tax. I have then created the person and the new claim on the Northgate system.  Some I have been able to process as we have their UC income details. For the new UC claims, where payment is yet to be made I have pended them to check in a few weeks.

Monday 16th December Apprentice study day - work as per otj record. Wednesday 18th December Today I have been working from an allocated spreadsheet, focusing on atlas updates for changes in income and a lot of address updates for people who did not have active claims. Linked to these address updates were then new CTR claims through UC atlas. Thursday 19th December Today I have been working through allocated work in images.  I have dealt with two new claims for housing benefit, for supported accommodation.  For both of these claims I have had to email the housing provider to request licence agreements and proof of ID and income for the claimants.  I dealt with a claimant who's tax credits had ended.  I emailed her to ask for an update on her circumstances. She then rang me and stated that she wasn't aware her tax credits had been stopped. I advised her to contact them asap, I could see on her previous notes that a fraudulent claim for UC had been made in he...