Opening hours for contact centres and phone lines will be shifting around the bank holidays
The DVLA and DWP have confirmed exactly when their contact centres and phone lines will be open during the bank holiday weekend. Although, people needing to contact them during the bank holiday may have to plan ahead to get in touch.
The Easter weekend encompasses two bank holidays on Good Friday, April 3rd, and Easter Monday, April 6th. Bank holidays are generally not considered working days even within governmental departments, so the long weekend has potential to cause havoc for people needing to contact the departments or waiting for updates, payments and deliveries.
Department for Work and Pensions
The DWP took to X warning claimants: “Jobcentre Plus offices and phone lines will be closed on Fri 3 and Mon 6 Apr over the Easter period.”
The phone lines will also not be open during the Saturday or Easter Sunday as it is typically only open from Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm. Even people using their online Universal Credit account will also only typically get responses during weekdays.
The DWP contact number you must use will depend on why you’re contacting the department in the first place. Some of the most commonly sought after numbers can be found here on the Gov.uk website.
The offices and phone lines should be operating normally from Tuesday, April 7. However, it’s not just DWP contact centres being affected by the bank holidays.
Payments from the DWP due on either Good Friday or Easter Monday will not be paid on these days as most banks aren’t processing transactions. Instead, they will mostly be paid on the first working day before, which will be Thursday April 2nd.
DVLA
Customers will be able to use DVLA’s online services throughout the Easter period. However, the department’s contact centres will be entirely closed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
On Saturday, April 4th, the DVLA contact centre will have normal Saturday operating hours from 8am to 2pm. Normal operating hours will also continued from Tuesday, April 7th.
If you are waiting for deliveries from the DVLA, the department usually makes allowances for bank holidays and non-working days.
The Gov.uk website has a tool that can pinpoint people to the correct DVLA contact they need to solve their problem.
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