Long wait for benefits and service at the AGD
Dear Claudienne,
My husband, who was a policeman, died on August 6, 1999. When he died his son was three years old. In 1999, shortly after his death , I went to the Accountant General’s Department (AGD) to find out about benefits for his family and was told that I was not entitled to any benefits.
However, when there was news in the media last year that someone at the Accountant General’s Department was arrested for fraud, I was advised to go back to the accountant general (AG). When I went there I was advised to go to the Ministry of Finance.
I went to the Ministry of Finance and in early October they gave me a copy of a letter that had been sent to the AG setting out the benefits his son (now aged 19) and I are due under the Widows and Orphans Act.
According to the letter, retroactive money from the Widows and Orphans fund is due to my son dating back to August 7, 1999. The benefits due to my son ceased on June 30, 2015 when he turned 19.
I, as his widow, have been granted a pension of not less than the minimum pension now payable to widows and this should continue while I remain unmarried.
I have handed in to the AGD all the information and documents that the AG requires to process the benefits for my son and me.
Could you please assist me to find out how long it will take for us to get some money from the AG?
Please also find out for me the amount of the minimum pension payable to widows and the basis for the calculation of my benefit.
I went to the AG’s office to try to get more detailed information about the benefit due to me and my son but became very frustrated as I never got a chance to speak with someone who could answer my questions.
After giving so many years of selfless service to the government, it is a shame to see how government workers are treated at the AGD. To do business at that office is time-wasting.
To ask the simplest of questions you have to get a number and wait sometimes for hours to get an answer.
In order to speak to the receptionist you must get a number.
When your number is called and you are being dealt with, if the officer sends you to the JP or some other place to get additional information after you get the information and return to the reception area the same day, you are required to get a different number and wait for another long time again, until the new number is called.
Some of the people who go to the office are very old and are using walking sticks and these people are required to go through this same process. The service is not good.
When I visited the office there was an old soldier needing information. A question that he should have had answered in 15 minutes took him four hours because he was required to take a number and wait.
Please see what you can find out for me.
PPDear PPTell Claudienne communicated with the accountant general and she replied to our query as follows: “Instructions dated October 6, 2015 to pay PP and son were received in this Department on October 9, 2015. Full payments were made to both PP and son on November 26, 2015. As of November 26, no further payments are due to PP’s son and no widows’ pension is outstanding to PP.
PP
Dear PP
Tell Claudienne communicated with the accountant general and she replied to our query as follows: “Instructions dated October 6, 2015 to pay PP and son were received in this Department on October 9, 2015. Full payments were made to both PP and son on November 26, 2015. As of November 26, no further payments are due to PP’s son and no widows’ pension is outstanding to PP.
In PP’s letter to you, she indicated some service shortcomings to which we are giving attention.
We like to pride ourselves as a customer-centric organisation and as such we have been pulling out all stops to provide the best customer experience to our more than 35, 000 pensioner base. We have been making strides in this area and remain encouraged by some positive feedback from this base.
Today our pensioners are more informed through our series of information fairs and forums and our pension features on radio. We have also been communicating through text messages and e-mail messages and our customers have found this area of communication most convenient.
While we take positive action to ensure that all our customers are properly served, we are cognisant that despite best efforts, there will be dissatisfaction within the base. Hence our quest is to continuously seek out improved ways to deliver quality customer service, not just to our pensioners, but to all the other customer bases we serve. For this we have developed and take seriously the mantra: ‘improving non-stop’.
Mention was made that PP had to seek the services of a Justice of the Peace (JP). This was only done because her documents were not verified and the resident JP may have been out of office at the time.
A numbering system is in place and pensioners are served on that basis. We also have roving officers who pace the floor to deal with problems that do not require waiting in line.
Thank you.”
We note that although the AG has lodged some money to your bank account you said that you still have not got a letter from them with a breakdown of the entitlements for you and your son and how much money you will receive for your monthly pension.
We will speak with the AG and please let us know when you get the letter.
Good luck.
Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.
Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.