Not happy with the Pensions Service

[petes]

My wife and I are both retired.My wife is disabled and receives DLA.I receive Carers Allowance.

My wife also receives pension credit(savings) and has two small private pensions.I also receive a private pension(income drawdown).

In December 2012 I had a 5 year pension review and my pension was slashed from £560 per month

to £250 per month due to new GAD rates being imposed.

We advised DWP of a change in circumstances on 20th dec 2012 and despite phoning them every 2 weeks we have received nothing.

Our meagre savings have now been used up and we are now worrying about paying our bills particularly the mortgage which is £515 per month.

I have raised a complaint with the DWP and now don't know what else to do.

Can anyone advise.

Thank you.

 

There must be something wrong with the Pension Service. My first claim was put in in Sept 09 first payment Jan 10, suspended in Aug 10 and terminated in March 11. Why? all because they had the wrong figures from one of my pension providers.

 

I then got a job and gave up with them - didn't need them anymore.

 

Made a claim 12th March 2013 and they requested evidence on the 9th April 2013. Wow, must be a record!! Anyhow They are the ones that are now pushing to get the award out (£118 a week due + Housing costs of £69 a week). So the tables have been turned. I'm making life very difficult for them for a change - evidence one bit every couple of weeks, 'misunderstanding what they want'. ignoring their 'urgent' (so they say to my wife) telephone calls, cancelling at home visits for 'medical reasons'.

 

I've gone from 'Customer Services' looking at the claim to a 'Specialist Decision Maker' whatever that is when it is at home.

 

They have now put me on a 30 day time limit to co-operate - runs out 9th May 2013.

Telephoned today and told the guy who answered the phone that that isn't enough time to get it all together - 'don't worry' he said 'I'll get them to extend the deadline - I do this all day long for people'. Told him that if they do shut me down, a new claim will be in the post within 24 hours with a request to backdate to 1st March!!

 

Hoping to string them along for as long as it took them to sort out my first claim -3 months!!

[scotgal68]

Petes so you are not in need of money?

You might not get any backdating because you failed to comply with requests for information, and guess what? It would serve you right!

 

DWP/Pensions staff are working to tight timescales on limited resources. We're not all idiots nor do we deliberately delay putting a claim into payment. We rely on information from other agencies and sometimes it can take a while. I am sorry your previous claim was delayed and suspended but your actions aren't solving or gaining anything

[petes]

Petes so you are not in need of money?

You might not get any backdating because you failed to comply with requests for information, and guess what? It would serve you right!

 

DWP/Pensions staff are working to tight timescales on limited resources. We're not all idiots nor do we deliberately delay putting a claim into payment. We rely on information from other agencies and sometimes it can take a while. I am sorry your previous claim was delayed and suspended but your actions aren't solving or gaining anything

 

Of course the money would come in handy. But I put into place a contingency fund that will see me through the next few months. To be honest whilst the claim was submitted in early March, I am fully aware that my actual entitlement cannot start until the 28th March due to other income coming in up to that date that takes me over the 'Appropriate Amount'. All that the Pension Service can do is treat my claim as 'defective' and close it. It would have no bearing on a new claim with a request that it be backdated up to 3 months.

 

Do I particularly care what the DWP/Pension Service have to cope with? No, not at all, that is their problem. The more of their time that I waste the better I will feel and in a way feel compensated for the shambles that they created back in 2010 with that claim.

 

No I agree, the Pension Service for a change are actually 'pushing' to get my claim into payment. Totally different than it was back in 2009/2010 when I used to hear nothing for months on end.

 

No as I have already said, nothing can change the stress that I suffered at the hands of the Pension Service in the past. Do I just cow down to them now because THEY want to deal with it faster than they previously did? However, it does give me some level of satisfaction that I am causing THEM for a change, disruption and annoyance and no doubt playing havoc with their targets.

 

As I have said previously, I intend to string them along for as far as I can take them - money isn't everything, the feeling of taking control over the way they deal with my current claim gives a far better feeling of satisfaction.

[Ros1609]

I think you are being very selfish. You are forcing the DWP to spend time chasing you when that time could be spent helping more co-operative claimants who are actually in need of the money they are claiming. I only wish I could show this thread to whoever is dealing with your claim

[Guest]

I totally agree Ros, this kind of thing makes me sick, genuine people waiting longer so that someone so far up their own rear end makes their own amusement.

[Minibits]

I wonder how many "petes" they were dealing with in 2009/2010.

[honeybee13]

I've started a new thread for this discussion as it was tagged on to someone else's.

 

HB

[estellyn]

I'm confused, petes stated a few days ago that he gets £650 a week in benefits and retired at 60.

[petes]

I think you are being very selfish. You are forcing the DWP to spend time chasing you when that time could be spent helping more co-operative claimants who are actually in need of the money they are claiming. I only wish I could show this thread to whoever is dealing with your claim

 

Selfish??? Where were you when I made my first claim in Sept 09, the first payment was made on the 20th January 2010, without housing costs?

 

I made a total of 42 telephone/letter contacts with the Pension Service between September 2009 and August 2010. I received just one written reply and no return telephone call!

 

When they by the time they closed the claim down in February 2011, I had never received a penny in housing costs and had no GPC from August 2010.

 

And you call me selfish!

 

Now that the tables have turned, and they have decided to get their act together with this new claim, I am supposed to jump when they say 'Jump'.

 

Be advised there is no need to contact the Pension Service - they know full well what I am about - I wrote and told them that I will use every excuse and regulation to make their life as difficult as I can. Maybe that is why I have a 'Specialist Decision Maker' dealing with this claim?

[petes]

I totally agree Ros, this kind of thing makes me sick, genuine people waiting longer so that someone so far up their own rear end makes their own amusement.

 

All I am doing is exactly what they did to me in 2010.

What would you do if say the DWP shafted you for well in excess of £10,500 of benefit that you were entitled to?

Take it on the chin and walk away? Or would you fight back in the only way possible?

Edited April 27, 2013 by petes

[petes]

I wonder how many "petes" they were dealing with in 2009/2010.

 

Let's put it this way, they are fully aware of me but using my true name.

[petes]

I'm confused, petes stated a few days ago that he gets £650 a week in benefits and retired at 60.

 

That is what I should be getting if and when the Pension Service make the award of approx. £180 a week including housing costs of £69 to which I am entitled to.

 

Up to now they owe that figure as from the 29th March 2013, £720 and counting. By the time I have finished, the debt should be in the region of £1800 and they would have taken from the 13th March 2013 until mid June to sort it out. So far they have had three letters to which I haven't received a reply - so that now warrants a formal complaint.

The MI12 is being held back by me from the bank to see how long they take to get in touch with me to say that the bank hasn't returned it. That should keep them busy for the next 12 months. Obviously that will result in another formal complaint - intolerable delay in awarding housing costs!

Edited April 27, 2013 by petes

[estellyn]

That is what I should be getting if and when the Pension Service make the award of approx. £180 a week including housing costs of £69 to which I am entitled to.

 

Up to now they owe that figure as from the 29th March 2013, £720 and counting.

 

No, you stated you were getting £650 a week - where does the rest come from? If you are getting £400 a week in other benefits, you hardly need a contingency fund.

 

Edit to add:

 

Just to remind you, this is what you posted:

 

What is the problem with people asking and for others being honest and saying

that you are?

 

The normal questions I get are "how do you manage now that

you don't work - I'll bet it is a shock to the system?"

 

I tell them

straight that I am on benefits which taking everything into account gives me a

similar income as I used to get when I was working.

 

Some ask, and I tell

them - "in total about £650 a week - why do you think I retired at 60!" That

soon shuts them up!!

 

Personally I don't care what others think or say or

even how they treat me. I've grown a thick skin in my employment which now

serves me well.

 

One thing that irritates people is when I comment that I

don't get out of bed before 9am anymore and plan my day to suit myself and my

wife.

 

I really would like to see the first guy to try to make any

comment that I consider is out of order.

Edited April 27, 2013 by estellyn

[Ros1609]

Nope sorry your answer fails to convince me you are anything other then a selfish individual who needs to grow up and start complaying with the DWP. 2 wrongs do not make a right as I tell my children

[antone]

No good will come of this. Thread closed pending discussion by staff.