‘We’re all absolutely knackered’ says MP’s office manager
Staffer with 25 years’ experience says workload ‘has never been this crazy’ ever since the pandemic started
As soon as the pandemic began the casework just exploded. We were receiving more than 600 emails a day, some of which were petitions or chain letters, but hundreds were from people in immediate, desperate need.
I’ve worked for an MP for 25 years and the workload has never been this crazy. In January 2016, we dealt with 40 pieces of casework. In January this year we dealt with 1,025. We’re now up to 4,639 cases so far this year, with a backlog of nearly 2,000 emails. We’re all absolutely knackered. We have two full-time caseworkers and one part-time researcher. Overnight we had to become experts in new areas: one of us focused on helping people with their finances while a colleague helped repatriate constituents from overseas.