A civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) canceled a scheduled phone appointment with a claimant, citing excessively high office temperatures as the reason. The incident occurred at the DWP office in Wrexham, north Wales, and involved a member of the Universal Credit Claim Review team.

The claimant, who wished to remain anonymous, shared an email from the department notifying them that the appointment would not take place due to “extremely hot temperatures” in the workplace. The cancellation prompted the department to issue an apology for the disruption caused.

A DWP spokesperson described the event as an isolated case and emphasized that all other scheduled appointments proceeded as intended. The department did not provide further details regarding the office conditions or whether any measures had been taken to address the temperature concerns.

This episode highlights the challenges faced by public sector employees working in physically demanding conditions, although the DWP maintained the incident was exceptional and not indicative of wider operational issues.