Interview under caution for pension credit

missbiggles1

merlin68 wrote: »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/expat-money/12020482/Autumn-Statement-hard-up-Brits-spending-time-abroad-could-lose-benefits.html
The four weeks abroad doesn't come in till April though.

Which is why I said, early on in the thread, that they might be checking up on people now, before the rules are tightened.

hennesm

missbiggles1 wrote: »

There are many benefits that don't allow claimants to travel abroad while claiming them and pension credit is one of them. If you want to claim public money, it seems only reasonable that you abide by the applicable rules and not have your relatives describe the system that provides all this as a "Stasi state".

She comes to visit me . The return flights are generally about €20-40 . She stays no more than 4 days at a time, apart from the time she was hospitalised with a suspected stroke . If she knew she had to tell them about theses short visits she would . The officer herself didn't know how long she could visit me for . I understand claiming public money has its responsibilities and she has tried to do that . She is my mum and I will be naturally protective but I still think it was unnecessarily high handed and aggressive . Her pension credit is about £30 per week . If she could claim a pension in Ireland , or wanted to so has spent most of her life in England , she would be on € 220 per week , in other words she would be far better off . I will add , before it is suggested, that she does not and it can be very easily checked by the DWP as they have ( or used to have ) a dept that used to have a special relationship with the Irish because of the common travel area .

missbiggles1

hennesm wrote: »

She comes to visit me . The return flights are generally about €20-40 . She stays no more than 4 days at a time, apart from the time she was hospitalised with a suspected stroke . If she knew she had to tell them about theses short visits she would . The officer herself didn't know how long she could visit me for . I understand claiming public money has its responsibilities and she has tried to do that . She is my mum and I will be naturally protective but I still think it was unnecessarily high handed and aggressive . Her pension credit is about £30 per week . If she could claim a pension in Ireland , or wanted to so has spent most of her life in England , she would be on € 220 per week , in other words she would be far better off . I will add , before it is suggested, that she does not and it can be very easily checked by the DWP as they have ( or used to have ) a dept that used to have a special relationship with the Irish because of the common travel area .

But she also claims HB etc and has social housing provided for her - not bad for a "Stasi state".

Did she show them the records of the flights she took when visiting you to show that she was going back and forth rather than staying there for a longer period?

hennesm

Not bad for a Stasi state ? She is left in this position after working all her life , Unfortunately she was part of the married woman's stamp generation and consequently has a reduced pension . I can clearly see now that the idea of the welfare state and community is more a ground level feeling , not just an IDS ideology . I had thought all those stories in the press were slightly over dramatised . Clearly I was wrong .My mum paid taxes her while working life and NI on the assumption it was to benefit those in need. She is now in need . I feel it unjustified to suggest that she is taking now taking 'our' money when in fact she had no such compunction when people were in need and using the tax money that she submitted . I completely understand that people have a job to do and mum went to that interview to answer any questions they had and she brought all her bills, doctors letter and what travel documents we had .
I offered what evidence I had and when I asked what else they wanted she said she couldn't tell me what to submit as it wasn't in her remit .
She is left Ill and vulnerable in a city where she has no family and a limited social network. She has tried to move and been honest about her situation with everyone . No one is happy with her position but as a family we have been trying to support her as best we can .

seven-day-weekend

I suppose the idea is if you are hard-up enough to be eligible for Pension Credit and Housing and Council Tax Benefit, then it does look a little strange to be constantly travelling to Ireland and in the UK, (where is the money coming from?) and also leaving empty a house that the Government, via taxes, is paying for. It's public money and needs to be accounted for.



I can understand why they are investigating your mum's movements, and think you should just give the evidence they ask for.

I do not of course agree with the way they spoke to her, and would be putting in a complaint about this.

As for the Married Womens' Stamp, this was always a choice. She didn't have to pay it, she could have opted to pay the full stamp, like many of us did. That way she would have had a full pension.

xylophone

I am her only child and I presumed it was ok for to visit me as often as she could . Didn't realise it was now a Stasi state where pensioners had to be essentially tagged in their movements .

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457814/pension-credit-extra-info-dwpf201pc-0915.pdf

"Can I go abroad and keep getting Pension Credit?
We can pay Pension Credit for up to 13 weeks while you’re temporarily abroad. If you go abroad for medical treatment under the NHS, we can pay Pension Credit for as long as you are getting medical treatment.


But you should tell us if you go abroad for any reason at all. This includes if you go to Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands."

missbiggles1

hennesm wrote: »

Not bad for a Stasi state ? She is left in this position after working all her life , Unfortunately she was part of the married woman's stamp generation and consequently has a reduced pension . I can clearly see now that the idea of the welfare state and community is more a ground level feeling , not just an IDS ideology . I had thought all those stories in the press were slightly over dramatised . Clearly I was wrong .My mum paid taxes her while working life and NI on the assumption it was to benefit those in need. She is now in need . I feel it unjustified to suggest that she is taking now taking 'our' money when in fact she had no such compunction when people were in need and using the tax money that she submitted . I completely understand that people have a job to do and mum went to that interview to answer any questions they had and she brought all her bills, doctors letter and what travel documents we had .
I offered what evidence I had and when I asked what else they wanted she said she couldn't tell me what to submit as it wasn't in her remit .
She is left Ill and vulnerable in a city where she has no family and a limited social network. She has tried to move and been honest about her situation with everyone . No one is happy with her position but as a family we have been trying to support her as best we can .

My mother also paid the MW "stamp" but was perfectly clear that she wouldn't get a pension in her own right. She made the choice to do so based on needing the money at the time rather than worrying about the future - a choice that everybody in that situation had to make at the time.

If she would really be so much better off in Ireland living near you, I fail to see why she can't just move there and pay rent out of the larger pension she'll receive, plus getting the financial help she gets from you now to travel over on visits. It should also be perfectly possible to show exactly when she travelled out and back to Ireland and thus prove that she was only away from home for a few days at a time.

If she was really spoken to like that then obviously you should complain but moaning about the "Stasi state" won't cut any ice with the DWP any more than it will on here.

dippy3103

The officer can tell you what to submit as it could be construed as putting words into your mouths.

Your mum gets a pension credit top up. So must be getting a state pension too? That she would keep if she was abroad. So it's only the PC element that's suspended.

dippy3103

Is her property social housing?

hennesm

I am the only family member she has in Ireland . She does not like it there . She is used to living in England . The married woman's stamp was a choice , she was out in it automatically by her employer and when she changed it back she had already been fairly badly affected . Anyway that is a side issue . Do you honestly think that someone she leave the country just because it's more viable for another state to pay even though she has no tax or insurance history there ? That's the ultimate not in my back yard attribute ? She spends more time with her family in Watford than with me . I visit her in Liverpool . Her flat is not continually empty .
To clear up the issue she is not entitled to a pension in Ireland as she has never worked there . She left at the age of 16 to work in the uk. She has lived there since .
The comments are getting a little out of hand now. I really only wanted procedural advice and I sincerely thank those who have given me that information. I will chase up the tape and transcript tomorrow and then go to a solicitor . Again thank you all for your help