My housing benefit claim was terminated and don't understand why

Delree

I have to admit I'm very sceptical of the "I never received the letter" line. I've worked in HB in the past (not anymore) and on a daily basis I would field at least 10 calls or visits pulling this line. Some people fail even to receive the reminder letter and the third and last chance letter. Incredible.

superwoman4

Delree wrote: »

I have to admit I'm very sceptical of the "I never received the letter" line. I've worked in HB in the past (not anymore) and on a daily basis I would field at least 10 calls or visits pulling this line. Some people fail even to receive the reminder letter and the third and last chance letter. Incredible.

I have complained to Royal Mail and recently received a book of first class stamps by way of compensation for repeatedly delivering my mail to the wrong address.

portly1

superwoman4 wrote: »

I have complained to Royal Mail and recently received a book of first class stamps by way of compensation for repeatedly delivering my mail to the wrong address.

I never thought about doing that!

My mail was for years being delivered to number 17, whereas I live at number 3. I failed to receive a letter (a DWP decision notice) and consequently failed to appeal against it.

Then one day the guy that lives at No17 came over and was clearly annoyed. He suggested that I contact the DWP and tell them of my correct address as he was fed up with posting letters back to them marked 'Not known'.

This was eventually proven to be the case when the DWP department I was dealing with telephoned me to ask where I was living. They were in the process of suspending my claim as they had many returned letters. They sent me a copy of the returned letter and the envelope. The letter was clearly addressed correctly and the envelope was marked 'return to sender'.

I have lost £1,000's in benefit payments (due to appeals not being submitted/late/out of time).

gilbutre

Delree wrote: »

I have to admit I'm very sceptical of the "I never received the letter" line. I've worked in HB in the past (not anymore) and on a daily basis I would field at least 10 calls or visits pulling this line. Some people fail even to receive the reminder letter and the third and last chance letter. Incredible.

Please read this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3681547.stm which says that "Thousands of letters are delivered to the wrong address every month".

Just because some people invoke a reason X in a wrong/false/excessive/incredible way does not mean that reason X never actually happens or never actually applies.

It certainly happened to me, and again I can't believe that people like myself or portly1 get severely "punished" by benefits just because Royal Mail doesn't do its job properly.

This is clearly a flaw in the benefit system.

portly1

gilbutre wrote: »

Please read this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3681547.stm which says that "Thousands of letters are delivered to the wrong address every month".

Just because some people invoke a reason X in a wrong/false/excessive/incredible way does not mean that reason X never actually happens or never actually applies.

It certainly happened to me, and again I can't believe that people like myself or portly1 get severely "punished" by benefits just because Royal Mail doesn't do its job properly.

This is clearly a flaw in the benefit system.

Presumably because very few actually complain to the Post Office, the government are of the opinion that the vast majority of letters are delivered correctly. This goes against the fact that it is believed that 14.4m are lost, but only 2000 complain!

I'm guilty of not complaining. Over the years of the letters that I actually found to have been 'lost' must be in the region of 50. How many that were lost and I never knew about them - no idea.

One benefit I claimed I found that two decision notices and a copy of my complete file (SAR) were never delivered - all in the space of a 5 month period!!

Then when you do find out you are generally too late to appeal, or your late appeal is thrown out on the basis of either 'it was posted to the last known address' (tough on you!) or the excuse was unacceptable.

fluffymovie

Delree wrote: »

I have to admit I'm very sceptical of the "I never received the letter" line. I've worked in HB in the past (not anymore) and on a daily basis I would field at least 10 calls or visits pulling this line. Some people fail even to receive the reminder letter and the third and last chance letter. Incredible.

I have to agree Delree, we used to get a lot of these "I never got the letter asking me for info" but cheques did arrive on time!

However, I also had a case some years ago, where we had a customer that we believed was being quite difficult - always saying that his letters were never received, lots of complaints and the like. About 18 months after I got there, his postman was found to have been hiding all the mail in his house and was prosecuted!

You just can't tell sometimes!

custardy

portly1 wrote: »

Presumably because very few actually complain to the Post Office, the government are of the opinion that the vast majority of letters are delivered correctly. This goes against the fact that it is believed that 14.4m are lost, but only 2000 complain!

I'm guilty of not complaining. Over the years of the letters that I actually found to have been 'lost' must be in the region of 50. How many that were lost and I never knew about them - no idea.

One benefit I claimed I found that two decision notices and a copy of my complete file (SAR) were never delivered - all in the space of a 5 month period!!

Then when you do find out you are generally too late to appeal, or your late appeal is thrown out on the basis of either 'it was posted to the last known address' (tough on you!) or the excuse was unacceptable.

I'll save you wasted time
Your issue is with Royal Mail
people really need to understand the difference

portly1

fluffymovie wrote: »

I have to agree Delree, we used to get a lot of these "I never got the letter asking me for info" but cheques did arrive on time!

!

Not in all cases. I cannot remember how many times I had to go the JC+ for duplicate giros every year due to the originals never turning up. It must have been 1 out of every 4 weeks that I had to do that.

The DWP eventually 'persuaded' me about 2 years ago to have the money paid into our joint bank account.

portly1

custardy wrote: »

I'll save you wasted time
Your issue is with Royal Mail
people really need to understand the difference

Royal Mail, Post Office - they are both the same to me!

The point I was making that it is no wonder the government departments and LA's think that saying 'the letter never turned up' is nothing more than a lame excuse.

Over 14m letters going missing and only 2000 people complained - no wonder they think that.

custardy

portly1 wrote: »

Royal Mail, Post Office - they are both the same to me!

The point I was making that it is no wonder the government departments and LA's think that saying 'the letter never turned up' is nothing more than a lame excuse.

Over 14m letters going missing and only 2000 people complained - no wonder they think that.

They maybe the same to you,but they are not
Even more so in the near future
Why dont you call it the GPO?