Help!

I am student nurse, and am in my third year of training. Basically I haven't beed given my grant for the year, and I don't know why. The NHS Student Grants Unit uses a 0845 (358 6655) number and I have been trying to contact the Midland's team for the last 5 days, but no one seems to be picking up the phone.

Does any know of any alternative number. They also use 01253 655655, but this just reditects you to the 0845 358 6655 number.

Cheers dhamma  :-* :-*

Welcome.

A little more information on the company/organisation/gov department, etc helps us a lot when trying to look for alternatives.  Things like address, website address, geographical fax number, etc as mentioned here and in red when posting.

Fortunately, I was able to find www.nhsstudentgrants.co.uk.

As you mention the number 01253 655655 now asks you to ring their 0845 number but I tried numbers from 01253 655656 all way upto around 01253 655 688 but all were engaged.  Now this was just now and earlier on this morning which is extremely unlikely to be busy at these times therefore the reason is most likely that the call centre staff have put their telephone equipment to 'Busy/Not available' this stops calls getting to them and ringing the 0845 confirmed they were closed.

Therefore, I'd recommend trying numbers from 01253 655 656 to 01253 655 688 first thing on Monday morning (if possible) or another time when they are likely to be open and ideally not busy.

I couldn't find any true geographical alternative but apart from the above I did notice they use a geographical fax number of 01253 774490.

Therefore, if the above numbers are always engaged then you also try ringing some numbers in the neighbourhood of 01253 774490 (eg. 01253 774491, 01253 774495, 01253 774480, etc).

In the meantime over the next few days I shall request their geographical number under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (assuming they come under the FOI act which they should do if they're government funded).  This unfortunately may take around a month for them to process and (hopefully) provide me with the geographical alternative but could be lot less or even longer in some cases if they start being funny, etc.  If I do get their geographical this will be added to the database.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with the above numbers.

Thanks for your help. So are a real star!

(Next time I'll know to give more details).

Cheers
:) :)

I have sent off an FOI request for the geographical alternative to their helpline.

Further info on this and their reply when it arrives can be read here.

Dhamma

I am one of the Customer Services Team Managers for the NHS Student Grants Unit, the correct number is the 0845...one, the 01253 655655 number is the old one for our previous address (we relocated in March 2005). You may wish to fax on 01253 774490, this number is a student contact number and other TELEPHONE enquirers must call 0845 358 6655, we do have a number of students who advise us that they successfully contact us up to 3 times a day on the helpline so you should get through. Many thanks.

Regards Phil Alcock Team Manager
wrote on Sep 16^th, 2005 at 7:36pm:

Help! I am student nurse, and am in my third year of training. Basically I haven't beed given my grant for the year, and I don't know why. The NHS Student Grants Unit uses a 0845 (358 6655) number and I have been trying to contact the Midland's team for the last 5 days, but no one seems to be picking up the phone. Does any know of any alternative number. They also use 01253 655655, but this just reditects you to the 0845 358 6655 number. Cheers dhamma  :-* :-*

Phil. So what is the alternative geo number to
0845 358 6655 then?

John

This is the only contact number that we have for students (0845 358 6655), approximately 500 calls are successfully answered each day on this line. The helpline is open from 8.30 to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30 to 4.30 on a Friday. Additionally we have a web site www.nhsstudentgarnts. co.uk and an e-mail contact 'enquiries@nhspa.gov.uk'

Regards

Phil

So are you saying that the 0845 number definitely does not have a 01253 geographical number that it piggy backs on to :o.

My understanding is that this is a stand alone telephone number,  there is no access to an 01253 number from it, I will check this out with our IT people and if it is any different I will post back on here. I am away from the office next week but will be in touch on the 18th if there is any other information.

Regards Phil

Hi Phil,

There is an underlying geographical number behind it.

I did an FOI request for it and was told there was an 01253 geographical number behind it but they are trying to withhold it so I've asked for an internal review.

Details I've managed to find (with a bit of searching) are that it is outsourced to a company called Paymaster.  Calls are not handled at the h/o of PayMaster and a google search revealed PayMaster has an address of Hesketh House, 200-220 Broadway, Fleetwood, Lancashire, FY7 8LG.  This is also the address of the NHS Pensions Agency (the agency responsible for student grants).  Therefore they are based with the NHS Pensions Agency.

It is common for staff to think there is only an 0845/0870 number and no geographical exists.  This isn't true and there is a geographical number behind it.

Easiest way to find out is what is the internal number of the main students helpline that other staff would put the call through to if the call was answered by pensions side of things and not student grants?

The chances are the number for Student Grants is 01253 77xxxx (xxxx being the extension number of the main helpline).  It may not be 77 before that though.

People are kept in a queue for a long time at a cost of 3ppm from a BT landline and upto 40ppm from a payphone or mobile.  If students rung a geographical using Call18866/1899 they would only pay 3p for the call regardless of the length of time they were spent in the queue.

On 01253 Blackpool the next digits of 77 and 87 indicate Fleetwood. However the number ranges are being more mixed of late - and surely it must be part of a large government network anyway?

wrote on Oct 7^th, 2005 at 11:30am:

On 01253 Blackpool the next digits of 77 and 87 indicate Fleetwood...

I specifically mentioned 77 as their geo fax number is 01253 77x.

But it may be mixed. I try to mix client stuff across different units so as to give some resilience.

Just like to say thanks for trying to sort this out.

I have managed to get my grant at long last (so thank you Phil, manager of Student grants), I had to keep phoning the 0870, as I  ran out of money, and needed to contact them ASAP.

My phone bill was rather high this month, even though I am with Homecall.

Anyway keep up the good work.

Cheers

Hi Guys,

Firstly can I say that I think this forum is great, and I cant believe its taken me so long to find this place. Anyway, I sympathise with the nursing student, as I know exactly what she went through to try getting through on the 0845 number for the NHS student grants dept.

I am a Physiotherapy student at a university in England, and while its true that I have to keep trying for hours to get through, I can finally get through, but it really is VERY frustrating  >:(  However, it should be known that for STUDENTS there really is ONLY the 0845 number. The 012 number is no longer in use to call, as they have changed everything at the NHS student grants dept.

While however, for students there is only the 0845 number, I do know from tutors and lecturers at my university that there is an alternate number to get through to the NHS student grants on, but the tutors are unable to give out that number for obvious reasons. While I understand why they dont want all students to know the alternate number, it also upsets and frustrates me  >:(

Anyway, if ANYONE can find out what the other direct number is, that would be truly AMAZING !!! And would cause alot of chaos for the NHS for a couple of days while they change it again, but I would LOVE to cause them just a little bit of frustration to get back at them for what they have put me, and hundreds of other students through over the last few years!

PLEASE find this number ! Cos I would love to cause these people some problems too  :)

 

Well finally after an internal review of my FOI they reluctantly agreed to provide the geographical 01253 775290.

I was warned that it is an extremely busy period for them at this time so the line may be engaged and that the 0845 can hold more people in a queue.

Therefore if you need to speak to them urgently then I'm afraid (unless you're lucky) you will have to use the 0845.  Some people have said though that the queues are in excess of 20mins.

Due to it being engaged I can not currently confirm this number to be correct.

Thanks for trying to sort this out.

I will forward your comments etc on, to as many students as I know.

Thanks dhamma :)

wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2005 at 11:54am:

Well finally after an internal review of my FOI they reluctantly agreed to provide the geographical 01253 775290.

Perhaps you could try out of hours and see if you get a recording. Maybe they have sequential numbers, ie 01253 775291, 01253 775292 etc which do the same thing. It may be that the 0845 routes to the next available one, or routes so many calls to each. Try it out of hours and see what you get.  :-/