by brainchild-adam on 1/20/24, 9:46 AM with 156 comments
by OJFord on 1/20/24, 10:44 AM
Well there's your problem. Crapita, I mean.
And yet it's completely possible:
> After the Guardian queried the process, the DfE said it would make an exception and decouple McGrath’s name from the deceased’s so that she would not be contacted about it again.
Even if that was entirely manual...
by mrmanner on 1/20/24, 10:36 AM
This is the most stereotypically British thing I’ve heard this year
by methou on 1/20/24, 1:05 PM
After the internet and apps plaged the world, now they have to download an app then tilt node and wink to the camera to prove that they are alive. ("If you cannot use a phone, ask your children")
I have mixed feeling about this, it's hard to say this is not degenerating, and no one's happy with doing this, but seems like there's no better idea that scales.
by radiator on 1/20/24, 10:39 AM
This is a bug in their system. Rather than fixing it, they prefer repeatedly and unashamedly asking old people whether they are dead.
by elashri on 1/20/24, 1:00 PM
Just to make it clear. Not to prove I was born for those particular parents. It is born in general.
by chokma on 1/20/24, 12:14 PM
To be fair, it is much harder to verify this automatically if the recipient lives in another country.
by teekert on 1/20/24, 10:51 AM
by voytec on 1/20/24, 12:45 PM
Well, that's dumb.
by karaterobot on 1/20/24, 3:54 PM
As a consultant, I would be willing to provide a simple fix to this problem for a modest fee. I won't say what it is yet, but I am confident it would work.
by ChrisMarshallNY on 1/20/24, 11:03 AM
by pettycashstash2 on 1/20/24, 12:21 PM
by thirkle on 1/20/24, 4:56 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenEdge_Advanced_Business_Lan...
Thankfully I have since moved on to greener pastures. Oddest thing about Capita is that they are able to recruit a lot of smart, competent young people, but then put them to work on maintaining the most awful systems.
by aaronmdjones on 1/20/24, 11:58 AM
> the beneficiary may be asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link
... and there it is. Crapita, the source of all woes, decided to do a just-good-enough job rather than a good job.
Come on. Even DVLA can handle the case where 2 (or more) people have the same first and last name, and middle initial, and date of birth, when issuing driving licences. They don't mix those up.
by nxobject on 1/20/24, 11:57 AM
by sega_sai on 1/20/24, 5:11 PM
by crimbles on 1/20/24, 12:44 PM
They sorted it within 5 days though and paid out compensation and sent her a hamper as an apology. Hopefully they fired the moron who kicked off the process too.
At the end of the day this shit happens but this should trigger a full review and pause all destructive outcomes immediately as mitigation. But being Capita I doubt it will happen.
by justinclift on 1/20/24, 12:39 PM
by jacquesm on 1/20/24, 2:10 PM
by cushpush on 1/20/24, 4:35 PM
by bythreads on 1/20/24, 11:55 AM
by codetrotter on 1/20/24, 10:13 AM
Sounds like garbage software
by j7ake on 1/20/24, 10:28 AM
Unfortunately the reality is that technology uses us and makes us do things we normally would consider stupid.