Pension credits

krustylouise

Hi,

I'm posting this on behalf of a neighbour. She has noticed the pension credits have been stopped but hasn't received a letter notifying her of a change of circumstances. She has had a stroke, a heart condition and has just finished radiotherapy for breast cancer and is left with £90 to live off a week due to her credits being stopped.

Has anyone experienced this or has anyone got temporary problems with their credits?

Thanks in advance.

anmarj

either there is a problem with the system or they have been trying to do a review of her Pension Credit and if she has not done the phone call or filled in a form then they will suspend benefit but would of sent a letter out. She would be best to call them to find out what is happening

bigboybrother

krustylouise wrote: »

Hi,

I'm posting this on behalf of a neighbour. She has noticed the pension credits have been stopped but hasn't received a letter notifying her of a change of circumstances. She has had a stroke, a heart condition and has just finished radiotherapy for breast cancer and is left with £90 to live off a week due to her credits being stopped.

Has anyone experienced this or has anyone got temporary problems with their credits?

Thanks in advance.

Nothing new about that!

They regularly suspend a Pension Credit award and will terminate it 1 month later for the most ridiculous of reasons.

They are very hot on the 1 month limit much the same as when you make a claim you are only allowed 1 month from when you submit it to provide ALL of the evidence that they will need. You will find that they actually don't remind you or set down in letter form what they want.

I had an earlier GPC claim suspended and never received a letter or explanation. The first I knew about it was when the 4 weekly payment didn't go in. A few days after it was due I then received a letter telling me that the claim had been terminated!!!!

I even appealed to the Tribunal to get it re-opened but failed in that. To this day I still don't know why they closed it other than they said that I had failed to provide some information and a form. I just gave up.

cbrown372

bigboybrother wrote: »

Nothing new about that!

They regularly suspend a Pension Credit award and will terminate it 1 month later for the most ridiculous of reasons.

They are very hot on the 1 month limit much the same as when you make a claim you are only allowed 1 month from when you submit it to provide ALL of the evidence that they will need. You will find that they actually don't remind you or set down in letter form what they want.

I had an earlier GPC claim suspended and never received a letter or explanation. The first I knew about it was when the 4 weekly payment didn't go in. A few days after it was due I then received a letter telling me that the claim had been terminated!!!!

I even appealed to the Tribunal to get it re-opened but failed in that. To this day I still don't know why they closed it other than they said that I had failed to provide some information and a form. I just gave up.

bigboybrother wrote: »

It was brought in when the qualifying age was 60. It was a way of manipulating that unemployment/sickness claims numbers.

Men at age 60 or if they had a partner who was 60 even if he was only 45, could claim Pension Credits instead of signing on and/or producing sick notes.

The jobcentre were very active that as soon as they had someone that was in the position to claim Pension Credit instead of JSA or IB/ESA they did everything possible to get them on to it it cut the unemployment & sickness figures down.

No they used to start at 60 and went on until death.

It all depends on the State Pensions being paid. It wouldn't be unusual for husband and wife to have a joint State Pension of currently in excess of £280 a week. This figure is higher than what they would have got from Pension Credit.

My State Pension when I collect it next year will be approx £170 a week and with my wife's of approx £60 a week, that puts us above the basic limit for Pension Credit.

If you are talking about what people actually get from Pension Credit compared to say JSA or ESA, then yes it is a bloody disgrace. Mind you I'm not complaining, we are entitled to approx £650 a week!

Make up your mind Andy you are getting confused everywhere you post.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?389751-Not-happy-with-the-Pensions-Service

bigboybrother

cbrown372 wrote: »

Make up your mind Andy you are getting confused everywhere you post.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?389751-Not-happy-with-the-Pensions-Service

And what is so wrong with either post?

The first post relates to a GPC claim I made in 2009 which was terminated in early 2011.

The second was my opinion as to why PC was brought into being.

I have since made another PC claim. Turn2us indicates that it is worth approx £110 a week plus housing costs of another £69 a week approx.

By the way, if it pleases you to address me by a name, try George - it's not Andy, now or ever will be.

Neelienew

bigboybrother wrote: »

By the way, if it pleases you to address me by a name, try George - it's not Andy, now or ever will be.

Why would we believe your name is George???

bigboybrother

Neelienew wrote: »

Why would we believe your name is George???

Maybe because it was the name my mother gave me?

seven-day-weekend

krustylouise wrote: »

Hi,

I'm posting this on behalf of a neighbour. She has noticed the pension credits have been stopped but hasn't received a letter notifying her of a change of circumstances. She has had a stroke, a heart condition and has just finished radiotherapy for breast cancer and is left with £90 to live off a week due to her credits being stopped.

Has anyone experienced this or has anyone got temporary problems with their credits?

Thanks in advance.

The obvious thing to do would be to ask the Pension Credit people!

bigboybrother

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

The obvious thing to do would be to ask the Pension Credit people!

That would seem the obvious answer, but the obvious isn't always that easy.

Of all of the DWP departments, the Pension Service has to be the most difficult to get answers from. They very rarely if ever return a telephone call or reply to a letter.
And the call handler at the contact centre is never able to give a straight answer to any question I have ever raised. In fact on one occasion between the call handler and myself she did an opinion poll with other call handlers whilst I was on the phone. Even so, the advice given was still totally wrong.

Good luck!!!

seven-day-weekend

bigboybrother wrote: »

That would seem the obvious answer, but the obvious isn't always that easy.

Of all of the DWP departments, the Pension Service has to be the most difficult to get answers from. They very rarely if ever return a telephone call or reply to a letter.
And the call handler at the contact centre is never able to give a straight answer to any question I have ever raised. In fact on one occasion between the call handler and myself she did an opinion poll with other call handlers whilst I was on the phone. Even so, the advice given was still totally wrong.

Good luck!!!

I have only contacted then on a few occasions, but have always found them incredibly helpful.

The last time was when I wanted to apply for my State Pension. I lived in Spain at the time and was just visiting the UK, and although my Pension was not due for another five months I was allowed to apply over the telephone whilst in the UK. The advisor told me how much my Pension would be and the day it would be paid and it all happened exactly as she had said. Couldn't praise them more .

What different experiences we have had of the same service!

Pollycat

bigboybrother wrote: »

That would seem the obvious answer, but the obvious isn't always that easy.

Of all of the DWP departments, the Pension Service has to be the most difficult to get answers from. They very rarely if ever return a telephone call or reply to a letter.
And the call handler at the contact centre is never able to give a straight answer to any question I have ever raised. In fact on one occasion between the call handler and myself she did an opinion poll with other call handlers whilst I was on the phone. Even so, the advice given was still totally wrong.

Good luck!!!

I've always got an answer to queries raised on my parents' behalf and never needed them to return a phone call.

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I have only contacted then on a few occasions, but have always found them incredibly helpful.

Me too.