Stress caused by AtW

Person "X" has been trying to sort out their AtW budget for the past 10 months. They have been through 7 different advisor's as well as two managers and feels that the issue is going around and around in circles rather than being resolved. At the point that it feels like an advisor is being helpful, a new person takes over and all the information has to be sent again.

Originally the agreement was in place up until 2015 but it was then changed (cut to less than half) with a note to say the agreed package was an error. Invoices were therefore returned. They finally agreed to pay (in writing) but this hasn't happened.

Trying to balance work and sorting this mess out has had a negative affect. A lot of work and personal time has been spent on this.

Person X has since become ill with symptoms of stress (headaches, can't sleep, eczema, recurrence of asthma etc) and is now on medication. The GP wants to book Person X off on sick leave and is going to call AtW because of the affect on their health.

Person X is not looking forward to the 1 year anniversary of this mess!

At least one person has some good news from AtW…

“G” works in a demanding job with vulnerable clients.  She has been experiencing problems with AtW for months.  At the point when AtW were threatening to withdraw her support, she contacted her MP. On hearing about all the problems that ”G” had experienced, her MP’s Case Manager offered to take over dealing with the case. This was a huge relief, as it mean that “G” could focus on her work rather than spend her time and effort trying to support out her support.

Within one week, “G” has received a letter stating that the support she requested has been approved.   

“G” would like to advise other people to contact their local MP’s for support. 

Left with no support - interpreters not being paid.

AtW have not paid any of the interpreters invoices and now my interpreters are not able to continue to work for me, leaving me with no support. It is not fair on the interpreters who are working but then not paid or me. My interpreter told me that they can't even contact AtW to chase up their payments.  This means I am under pressure to sort it out when I can get no response from them! Very Stressful.

New information being requested from AtW

AtW are now requesting lots of new information from people. They are asking for pay slips, interpreters NI numbers and also in some instances interpreters certificates! On the one hand we are being told that interpreters must be NRCPD registered, yet on the other, they are not trusting the register to have performed any checks (NRCPD check qualifications and CRB etc). It makes no sense!

Minicom Answer Machine is FULL!

This morning, we tried to contact AtW via minicom and found that the answer machine was full! AtW are threatening to stop peoples support, yet they don't respond to email, and when you try to contact them by minicom... you can't!