Universal credit and private pension contributions

justwhat

NedS said:

I will agree with that.

To understand it, you have to understand how DWP internal guidance works. The guidance is very clear in stating what must happen. It states that pension contributions must be deducted. So any Case Managers who tell you otherwise simply haven't read the guidance or simply refuse to believe someone should be allowed to pay their salary into a pension and receive more UC.

However, the guidance does not tell the Case Manager how it should happen, and that's where the lack of consistency comes from.

There is an official process, but to find out what that is, the Case Manager would either have to know it from past experience, or they would have to raise a support ticket (called an ACT), from which they should receive the official response on how the deductions are to be made.

In all cases, evidence should have been requested and provided for every AP.

I have no intention of prompting them regarding  uploading  proof. lol 
UC is  a bit clunky , but its working for me. Its just a total pain in the rear. 

I do have an issue with my TC Overpayment/finalization , but that's another story. lol

v1ckyt

Similar situation to many here.

I have been requesting and uploading evidence since 1st June this year. Sent for MR in July, escalated in mid-September, and now have asked about what is going on yet again, and get this response. 

Hi V,
We are currently unable to provide an outcome regarding the ongoing mandatory reconsideration. 
Once there is an outcome you will be notified via your journal.
In the meantime, if you would like to raise an official complaint please see the link below:

So complaint now submitted. 

This is so frustrating, it's not a huge amount, but it has been wrong now for 5 assessment periods, coming up to 6 soon.

No real question here, just a bit of a rant really!

justwhat

v1ckyt said:

Similar situation to many here.

I have been requesting and uploading evidence since 1st June this year. Sent for MR in July, escalated in mid-September, and now have asked about what is going on yet again, and get this response. 

Hi V,
We are currently unable to provide an outcome regarding the ongoing mandatory reconsideration. 
Once there is an outcome you will be notified via your journal.
In the meantime, if you would like to raise an official complaint please see the link below:

So complaint now submitted. 

This is so frustrating, it's not a huge amount, but it has been wrong now for 5 assessment periods, coming up to 6 soon.

No real question here, just a bit of a rant really!

I don't think its unreasonable for this to be sorted out within one month max per assessment period. 

uploading info/ proof and "requesting" DM should be fairly rapid. Then hassle for decision every week or few days.

i would be fuming if this dragged on with months of arears/non payment.

michaels

I finally got a DM to look at it on Friday and they have agreed the adjusted net of pension payments income for June - October so hopefully I will now get the recalculated payments in the not to distant future. 

No idea if this means it will go through smoothly now every month, haven't yet been sent an upload link for the payment I made at the end of October.

spaniel101

Excellent!   I would be proactive michaels and respond straight away to the above good news with ...."please send me an upload link for pension contributions made on...."  ...and chase every 2 days if necessary.

v1ckyt

May be getting somewhere at last. 

Escalation has happened, have now received the message below. 

Hi V I am currently looking at the mandatory reconsideration decision, regarding wages. Can you please send payslips and bank statements for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? Can you please send pension contributions documents for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? I will set up three upload requests for you to send them to us. Please reply as soon as possible. If I have not received a response within 1 week, I may make a decision based on the evidence I already have. Kind Regards

I have been uploading the pension contributions evidence including the bank statement for the relevant date each month going back to May, so am unsure why I need to re-upload it all again, and why they need pay slips and bank statements in order to work out if my relievable pensions contributions qualify to be taken into account. 

Any thoughts please?

Thanks 

michaels

I had to reupload some of mine that I had already supplied (only pension statements not bank statements).  I got a message saying they are adjusted my income accordingly for the months in question - but no sign of any payment - perhaps it will be added to the next regular payment? 

IN the mean time they have failed to send me a link to upload the pension payment details for the current period...

NedS

v1ckyt said:

May be getting somewhere at last. 

Escalation has happened, have now received the message below. 

Hi V I am currently looking at the mandatory reconsideration decision, regarding wages. Can you please send payslips and bank statements for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? Can you please send pension contributions documents for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? I will set up three upload requests for you to send them to us. Please reply as soon as possible. If I have not received a response within 1 week, I may make a decision based on the evidence I already have. Kind Regards

I have been uploading the pension contributions evidence including the bank statement for the relevant date each month going back to May, so am unsure why I need to re-upload it all again, and why they need pay slips and bank statements in order to work out if my relievable pensions contributions qualify to be taken into account. 

Any thoughts please?

Thanks 

This is standard DWP non-joined-up thinking / operation.

That looks like a Decision Maker (DM) is going to make a decision on the pension contributions you claim you are making.

It is not the Decision Makers job to go looking for evidence. Ideally the Case Manager would gather all the appropriate evidence before making the referral to the DM, and the DM will simply review the evidence and make the decision, for that is their job.

However, most Case Managers do not have the first clue what evidence the DM may need or do not have the time to gather and attach it to the referral, so the DM is asking you for it again. As they have said, if you do not provide it (again), they will simply make a decision based on what is in front of them, and if they do not have evidence of your pension contributions in front of them, it is difficult to imagine how the decision could go your way.

Give them what they are asking for (again!) and be grateful you are making progress. DWP are never likely to win major awards for customer service!

EDIT - I should add that there is no way to store sensitive documents you have uploaded on the UC system, so they are routinely deleted after a short period of time.

michaels

So the storage thing makes sense as for me the DM said they had my two most recent uploads but not the ones I had done in June, July and August.

v1ckyt

NedS said:

v1ckyt said:

May be getting somewhere at last. 

Escalation has happened, have now received the message below. 

Hi V I am currently looking at the mandatory reconsideration decision, regarding wages. Can you please send payslips and bank statements for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? Can you please send pension contributions documents for between 6 May 2024 to 5 November 2024? I will set up three upload requests for you to send them to us. Please reply as soon as possible. If I have not received a response within 1 week, I may make a decision based on the evidence I already have. Kind Regards

I have been uploading the pension contributions evidence including the bank statement for the relevant date each month going back to May, so am unsure why I need to re-upload it all again, and why they need pay slips and bank statements in order to work out if my relievable pensions contributions qualify to be taken into account. 

Any thoughts please?

Thanks 

This is standard DWP non-joined-up thinking / operation.

That looks like a Decision Maker (DM) is going to make a decision on the pension contributions you claim you are making.

It is not the Decision Makers job to go looking for evidence. Ideally the Case Manager would gather all the appropriate evidence before making the referral to the DM, and the DM will simply review the evidence and make the decision, for that is their job.

However, most Case Managers do not have the first clue what evidence the DM may need or do not have the time to gather and attach it to the referral, so the DM is asking you for it again. As they have said, if you do not provide it (again), they will simply make a decision based on what is in front of them, and if they do not have evidence of your pension contributions in front of them, it is difficult to imagine how the decision could go your way.

Give them what they are asking for (again!) and be grateful you are making progress. DWP are never likely to win major awards for customer service!

EDIT - I should add that there is no way to store sensitive documents you have uploaded on the UC system, so they are routinely deleted after a short period of time.

That makes sense. 
I was slightly confused why they needed pay slips and bank statements as well as evidence of the pension contributions, but have no problem with supplying it so it is all uploaded as requested, and hoping we are moving forwards 🤞