Confusedagain.com

Whiteknight

suelees1 wrote: »

I remember seeing your earlier posts. You must be getting so frustrated.

And KeaneFan10 - no that's wrong for those over 60. I can't remember exact new rates since they went up a couple of weeks ago but it's around £200 pw for a couple (sorry just gone back and noticed gorgeousgeorge has given the rate of 202.40)

The Pension Service are really behind with processing and are taking weeks and weeks but that's no help to you. I'd ring up and ask for a manager to call you back and also put in an official complaint to their Customer Services section also asking for an ex gratia payment for the stress and worry caused by the delay. I'd normally say speak to your MP but you can't now Parliament has been dissolved.

For an entitlement of around £66 a week and a claim made in late February I think it is a little early to be calling up to speak to a manager or putting in an official complaint - if you had nothing coming in fair enough. It will take a little time to get the claim paid but all money owed will be backdated.

gorgeousgeorge

suelees1 wrote: »

I remember seeing your earlier posts. You must be getting so frustrated.

And KeaneFan10 - no that's wrong for those over 60. I can't remember exact new rates since they went up a couple of weeks ago but it's around £200 pw for a couple (sorry just gone back and noticed gorgeousgeorge has given the rate of 202.40)

The Pension Service are really behind with processing and are taking weeks and weeks but that's no help to you. I'd ring up and ask for a manager to call you back and also put in an official complaint to their Customer Services section also asking for an ex gratia payment for the stress and worry caused by the delay. I'd normally say speak to your MP but you can't now Parliament has been dissolved.

Hi Sue, yes getting very frustrated with them... all we want is a simple answer, if pension credits will be a top up to the JSA (c),( which going on to entitledto, and other benefits calculators seem to be the case). Just get very angry being told 2 different things :mad: just wish I could find it somewhere in writing that pension credits will be made on top of JSA(c) to bring it up to the income for a couple to live on. Savings are dwindling fast now

gorgeousgeorge

NASA wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that JSA cannot be paid at the same time as Pension Credit. Surely it would would be easier just to stop the JSA claim as no financial loss would be felt.

.

If that was the easiest option, then yes we would go ahead and do that, but the amount of time it is taking for claim to be sorted, we would have nothing coming in while waiting for them to pay us ......

Partners JSA(c) will be coming to an end, at the end of May I think anyway

anmarj

NASA wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that JSA cannot be paid at the same time as Pension Credit. Surely it would would be easier just to stop the JSA claim as no financial loss would be felt.

see my post

NASA_2

anmarj wrote: »

see my post

No........

gorgeousgeorge

Whiteknight wrote: »

For an entitlement of around £66 a week and a claim made in late February I think it is a little early to be calling up to speak to a manager or putting in an official complaint - if you had nothing coming in fair enough. It will take a little time to get the claim paid but all money owed will be backdated.

I will be putting in a complaint as to being told 2 different things by different people that we have spoken to ( just a shame that we dont have the names of who we spoke to) and also being promised call backs that we have never received.
I understand benefits staff have a huge job on their hands, but surely the correct imformation is taught to them all to save confusing people who put in claims?

gorgeousgeorge

anmarj wrote: »

yes Pension credit can be paid as well as JSA (c) if that is what he is on. he would be paid clerically as the two benefits conflict with each other. the only thing i can think of is that he may have an elememt of jsa (IB) which would disqualify him from claiming pension credit at the same time. the other thing is that the age for claiming PC is rising with womans age from 6 april 2010, so how far over 60 is he?

This isnt going to cause us more of a headache now is it, as the age for claiming PC has risen, even tho the claim was put in before 6th of April?

gorgeousgeorge

This is why I started to get a bit worried about the amount of time it takes to be in receipt of pension credits......http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/Discussion/forums/thread/1346.aspx

andyandflo

gorgeousgeorge wrote: »

Partner over 60 has been claiming JSA(c) since december, nothing is claimed for me, we have been living off of savings, he put in a claim for pension credits for us as a couple which we heard would be a top up on top of his JSA(c). Still havent received anything from pension credits, so we have just rung them, and was told that he couldnt claim both?? whereas when i made enquiries into it before I was told it would be a top up until his JSA(c) came to an end, then pension credits would pay the full amount to us.......getting fed up of being told 2 different things :mad: We have just been given a small amount of housing benefit based on his JSA, my part time earnings, and my childrens earnings.

Does anyone know if pension credits do top up on top of JSA or not?

Hi, Maybe I can help a little. My circumstances are very similar except that I am claiming ESA (Sickness Benefit) - Contribution based.
I started claiming ESA on 22/10/09 but 1st payment was not received until March 2010 @£64.30 pw. I also claimed pension Credit in October 2009 to top up our income. It was not until March 2010 also that they agreed we were entitled to it. What with the backdated payments for both ESA & PC, this put us back to where we were financially in Oct 2009.
The Pension Credit payment is calculated after deducting all of our other income AND ESA (C). So the answer is yes, Pension Credit DOES top up your income to, now, just over £200 pw.
Also when the ESA(C) ceases the Pension Credit will increase by a similar amount - still making sure you still get just over £200 pw.
And just to let you know, I was told the same b******t that you can't have both at the same time! The reason I think is that it costs more for them to process two claims instead of the one!!!!
Hope this helps

gorgeousgeorge

andyandflo wrote: »

Hi, Maybe I can help a little. My circumstances are very similar except that I am claiming ESA (Sickness Benefit) - Contribution based.
I started claiming ESA on 22/10/09 but 1st payment was not received until March 2010 @£64.30 pw. I also claimed pension Credit in October 2009 to top up our income. It was not until March 2010 also that they agreed we were entitled to it. What with the backdated payments for both ESA & PC, this put us back to where we were financially in Oct 2009.
The Pension Credit payment is calculated after deducting all of our other income AND ESA (C). So the answer is yes, Pension Credit DOES top up your income to, now, just over £200 pw.
Also when the ESA(C) ceases the Pension Credit will increase by a similar amount - still making sure you still get just over £200 pw.
And just to let you know, I was told the same b******t that you can't have both at the same time! The reason I think is that it costs more for them to process two claims instead of the one!!!!
Hope this helps

OMG It took that long until they sorted it out for you? :eek: what a nightmare, oh well looks as if we will just have too wait for a little bit longer, just not to much longer I hope.... did you inform them that your ESA(c) was coming to an end or was that done automatically?