Denied Bereavment help...

billbones77

Hello everyone .


My Partner applied for Bereavement help after her mother past away she had filled out the paper work and sent off and waited .. nothing happened so made a phone call to find out what was happening .. they said they had not received any claim/paper work .. so re-sent out the form... the same happened on the second form basically this happened on 3 occasions.. then we had a reply saying it has been denied due to the fact that the claim was made too late (over a period of time from the death of her mother) ..
My question is " can I appeal or is there some form of checking when we sent the forms or a phone call register from phoning the benefits department ..


Thanks
Lee

tomtontom

What help was she looking for - assistance with funeral costs?

Did she return the forms by Recorded Delivery?

billbones77

Yes help with funeral costs... they Mentioned doing recorded delivery after we'd sent them 3 times .. there's an envelope in the forms to send it back and I cant see how after 3 times they couldn't find them or have been mixed up in there offices ..

pmlindyloo

You can challenge the decision. Write to them giving them the dates when you sent the forms in their provided envelope and say that you wish to challenge the decision as you believe it is an administrative error - lost once may be acceptable, but three times is not.

Did you get proof of posting - post office receipt for example? If so enclose them.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-if-on-a-low-income/help-for-people-on-a-low-income-the-social-fund-and-other-welfare-schemes/#h-funeral-payments

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

those phone calls to government offices are recorded so you should be able to get a copy of the phone call as evidence.

mel48rose

Bless you, losing someone is hard enough without all this stress. Hope things get resolved for you.