Universal credit and private pension contributions

michaels

Many congratulations, I requested my first MR similar date to you in June and I am still waiting to hear back on that or any of the subsequent MR requests.  I did manage to get them to send me a link to upload my pension payment contribution evidence every month and thought things might be moving forward but alas not.....

makapakawoo

michaels said:

Many congratulations, I requested my first MR similar date to you in June and I am still waiting to hear back on that or any of the subsequent MR requests.  I did manage to get them to send me a link to upload my pension payment contribution evidence every month and thought things might be moving forward but alas not.....

Thank you! I kept asking about the timeframe at least once a week from June but always got the same answer—that there was no specific timeframe. On the 27th of August, I posted a journal message explaining that the delay was causing me stress and anxiety, and the next day, they escalated it and resolved it within three working days. I got the MR back on the 29th.

It seems like the process moves much quicker when you appeal, thankfully. If you do get to the appeal stage, feel free to reach out, and I can send you the evidence I uploaded for my appeal.

NedS

makapakawoo said:

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking here for a while, reading through all the advice on dealing with Universal Credit and pension contributions. I've been going through the same situation, but thanks to the tips and guidance I've found here, I've finally managed to get them to take my pension contributions into account!

Just wanted to pop in and say a huge thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences and advice. It's been incredibly helpful, and I'm grateful for the support!

That's really great news, but it drives me mad that after 11 years of UC, they are still getting it wrong so many times that these cases have to end up going to a tribunal appeal before anyone competent gets to see them.

I can understand how Case Managers may be getting it wrong, but I cannot understand how Decision Makers are still getting it wrong at Mandatory Reconsideration stage given the guidance that is available and the volume of such cases they must be seeing. I think part of the problem may be that DMs make their decision, and move on to the next case. They have no clue which, if any, of their decisions are subsequently overturned at tribunal and consequently have no clue about the quality of the decisions they are making (DWP seem primarily interested in numbers of decision [productivity], not the quality of the decisions made).

@makapakawoo - I'd be interested to hear the grounds upon which your Mandatory Reconsideration was refused, before you filed for appeal. Deprivation of income (a complete nonsense) seems to be the most common reason they come up with to not apply the law correctly.

makapakawoo

@NedS I completely agree. You'd think they'd have had proper training on this by now. The DM who finally overturned my case was fantastic. He couldn't apologise enough and acknowledged that there’s definitely been a gap in the training. He was annoyed that they hadn’t even looked at their own guidance.

My original MR was refused because they claimed my pension contributions were "optional" and treated them as a "third-party deduction" which are not taken into account. He just had no bloody clue. 

I was half-expecting them to use Deprivation of Income, and thanks to this thread, I had all the legislation lined up to fire back at them haha.

NedS

makapakawoo said:

@NedS I completely agree. You'd think they'd have had proper training on this by now. The DM who finally overturned my case was fantastic. He couldn't apologise enough and acknowledged that there’s definitely been a gap in the training. He was annoyed that they hadn’t even looked at their own guidance.

My original MR was refused because they claimed my pension contributions were "optional" and treated them as a "third-party deduction" which are not taken into account. He just had no bloody clue. 

I was half-expecting them to use Deprivation of Income, and thanks to this thread, I had all the legislation lined up to fire back at them haha.

Thank you for providing that - I appreciate it. Again, glad you eventually got a successful outcome.

spaniel101

🤔 Mmmh - wonder what they are up to now (or not…as the case may be!)

michaels

I got a message early i Oct sayign they were finally gong to do an MR (I have been asking since June) - not heard anything since....

the_pink_panther_2

@spaniel101 is that related to your private pension contributions? It sounds odd.  Maybe it's a change which will longer term simplify things? 

spaniel101

michaels said:

I got a message early i Oct sayign they were finally gong to do an MR (I have been asking since June) - not heard anything since....

I can't believe they still haven't sorted yours out michaels!  Unbelievable really.  Definately worthy of a further complaint and your MP.


On the whole, they do sort mine out every month before the end of the next assessment period, but that said, I am a serial complainer (most months, certainly every 2 days out of necessity).


Last months complaint went to 'central complaints team' as the latest complaints manager kept referring back to 'policy team' and talking about that old trick of 'income deprivation'.   It came back with the same general b*ll - 'no maladministration found'.



...and now this recent message today about this months.  

spaniel101

the_pink_panther_2 said:

@spaniel101 is that related to your private pension contributions? It sounds odd.  Maybe it's a change which will longer term simplify things? 

Yes SIPP contributions.   

We can always live in hope, however I very much doubt it is to 'simplify' unfortunately,  more like ramping up their  obfuscation.