Feature
Inside the office that answers citizens’ letters
Eleven people read every letter sent to the head of government. Most ask for help with something small that went wrong.
Political editor
9 min read
Letters arrive at about 600 a day. Every one is logged by hand.
The letters arrive in grey sacks at eight in the morning. By noon each one has a number, a summary and a name next to it: the person who will write back.
The office has existed in some form for ninety years. It has never been busier.
Small requests, slow systems
Most letters are not about policy. They are about a pension paid to the wrong account, a permit lost between two departments, a school transfer that never arrived.
If a letter reaches us, three other offices have already failed. Our job is to find out which ones.
The staff can forward a case with the head of government’s name on it, which tends to speed things up. They try to use that sparingly.
What the letters show
Every quarter the team writes a short report on the problems that come up most. Two of last year’s led to changes in how benefits are paid.
Topics
Daniel Szabo
Political editor
Daniel covers parliaments, coalitions and the policies that come out of them.
