Social funeral fund help!

stressed81

My Dad past away in February 2010. I applied for help from the social funeral fund. I sent off all the information they requested, bank account, post office accounts etc and transactions leading up to the day of his death. I sent them off then they requested closing statements on these accounts which I also sent off.
They then told me that they had not received the transactions from the post office and bank accounts (despite acknowledging they had them) so ruled against my claim. They gave me a time limit to which to appeal against the decision, and after months they finally set the tribunal date in March 2011.

After seeing all the paperwork the tribunal ruled in my favour in less than a minute. I contacted the dwp funeral fund to notify them, and they have said they had no record of my claim on file:mad: The only explanation they can give is that they have moved offices and my file was lost. I have contacted them many times since then and every time I get the same excuse, "we will investigate and give you a call back". Of course they have never ring back.

Is there anyone I can ring to escalate this? or am I just to write off the money they owe me (which I really cannot afford to do).

p00hsticks

Write to your MP ?

wottonby

stressed81 wrote: »

My Dad past away in February 2010. I applied for help from the social funeral fund. I sent off all the information they requested, bank account, post office accounts etc and transactions leading up to the day of his death. I sent them off then they requested closing statements on these accounts which I also sent off.
They then told me that they had not received the transactions from the post office and bank accounts (despite acknowledging they had them) so ruled against my claim. They gave me a time limit to which to appeal against the decision, and after months they finally set the tribunal date in March 2011.

After seeing all the paperwork the tribunal ruled in my favour in less than a minute. I contacted the dwp funeral fund to notify them, and they have said they had no record of my claim on file:mad: The only explanation they can give is that they have moved offices and my file was lost. I have contacted them many times since then and every time I get the same excuse, "we will investigate and give you a call back". Of course they have never ring back.

Is there anyone I can ring to escalate this? or am I just to write off the money they owe me (which I really cannot afford to do).

It is no surprise that after nearly 18 months, with no action being taken by the DWP, the file has been discarded somewhere.

Being that it is a means tested benefit and that all of the bills were paid long ago, they could very well start asking why do you still need the money.

It maybe that you have borrowed the funds and still haven't repaid them.

18 months is a long time to still be in financial difficulties after the estate has been settled and requiring help to pay for the funeral.

I think you may be on a loser with this one!

stressed81

wottonby wrote: »

It is no surprise that after nearly 18 months, with no action being taken by the DWP, the file has been discarded somewhere.

Being that it is a means tested benefit and that all of the bills were paid long ago, they could very well start asking why do you still need the money.

It maybe that you have borrowed the funds and still haven't repaid them.

18 months is a long time to still be in financial difficulties after the estate has been settled and requiring help to pay for the funeral.

I think you may be on a loser with this one!

Well fortunately the funeral director grew up with my Father and served in the Royal Navy with him for many years, so he has been very understanding. I have since paid off more than half of what I claimed for and would be happy for them to just pay off the remainder.

At the end of the day however I feel if this was a private enterprise that owed you money and lost all records of it. I feel you would feel differently if they turned around and said "sorry we were grossly incompetent, but you should not need the money anymore anyway".

wottonby

stressed81 wrote: »

Well fortunately the funeral director grew up with my Father and served in the Royal Navy with him for many years, so he has been very understanding. I have since paid off more than half of what I claimed for and would be happy for them to just pay off the remainder.

At the end of the day however I feel if this was a private enterprise that owed you money and lost all records of it. I feel you would feel differently if they turned around and said "sorry we were grossly incompetent, but you should not need the money anymore anyway".

But this isn't a private enterprise. It's a government grant which is means tested for those that do not have the resources to pay for a funeral.

If by now, that requirement no longer exists, then surely there is no further need for the funding.

It's no different than applying for a grant to purchase a cooker. If that application took 18 months to come through, and in that time you had managed to sort yourself out and get a cooker by other means, then would you still expect the state to provide the funding for that cooker that you now have?

clemmatis

stressed81 wrote: »

Is there anyone I can ring to escalate this? or am I just to write off the money they owe me (which I really cannot afford to do).

As other posters have said, get in touch with your MP. You could begin by emailing, mine always responds to emails. This site worked well when I last used it!

http://www.writetothem.com/

It does not matter that you somehow managed to get the money between now and then.

AsknAnswer2

You should have been given or sent a copy of the tribunal decision - take a further copy and send it to them. Whether they have a file for you or not, they need to action this. Your file should be on the computer system in any case (unless the claim is clerical). If the claim is clerical and they genuinely cannot find your case and have not to date received the tribunals decision, they cannot action it without investigating the matter as they have to be certain that you are entitled to the funds. That is why I advise you to send in a copy (not the original) of the tribunal decision; so that they can plainly see that there is an entitlement there,. You should also copy your copy of the appeal bundle they sent to you (the mass of papers you received from DWP before the tribunal) and send it to them. There is then no excuse for not actioning it because they will have all the information required to action it, and they can continue their investigation without your being delayed any further. You should of course also submit a claim for a consolitary payment for maladministration in which you should claim costs for the photocopying, postage as well as requesting payment for your inconvenience. In addition to sending these papers, file a complaint to both the BDC, your MP and the tribunals service.

WhiteHorse

Been there, had that. Your correspondence was binned in the hope that delay and distress would mean that you never pursued it.

You can go all the way up the ladder. They may tell you that the local manager is as high as you can go, but this is a lie. You can in fact go all the way up to the minister yourself, although it's better to involve your MP.

If they say they have 'lost' all the paperwork, then they have failed to adequately secure confidential data. Make a complaint against them to ICO, and tell them that you intend to do so.

As you have already been advised, keep copies, send eveything Recorded Delivery. Never send originals, lest they mysteriously vanish as well. Get the names of everyone you deal with.

rogerblack

stressed81 wrote: »

After seeing all the paperwork the tribunal ruled in my favour in less than a minute. I contacted the dwp funeral fund to notify them, and they have said they had no record of my claim on file:mad: The only explanation they can give is that they have moved offices and my file was lost. I have contacted them many times since then and every time I get the same excuse, "we will investigate and give you a call back". Of course they have never ring back.

Is there anyone I can ring to escalate this? or am I just to write off the money they owe me (which I really cannot afford to do).

Legally - the decision to not grant you the funeral grant has been overturned, and the DWP have no other route either than appealing (a very late appeal by now), or paying you.

The problem of course is proving this.
My first steps would be to request a copy of all your files, from both the DWP and the tribunals service.
You can do this under the freedom of information act.
At the same time, I'd ask the tribunals service to resend the paperwork to the DWP, who have lost it.
Hopefully the tribunals service still have a record on file.

http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/wr_hcomplaints may be useful. see the maladministration bit.

Also - raise a formal complaint against the DWP.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/contact-us/complaints-and-appeals/

paddedjohn

i think i agree with wottonby on this, the op has already found some of the cash towards his fathers funeral so why does he need public money?