Winter fuel payment

isleofdogs

poppy12345 said:

isleofdogs said:

We are the first time applicants for the Winter Fuel Payments.  In mid-October 2020 we completed 2 forms (downloaded from DWP website) - provided our joint bank account for payments, and posted them to WFP in one envelope.  Two weeks later we received separate letters advised we qualified for £100 each, and if the payment not received by 23rd December 2020 we should contact them.
We checked our joint bank account, and found that they paid me £100 on 15th December 2020 (identified by my NI number), but no payment to hubby.  So we decided to wait till after 23rd December to call.  On that day it was impossible to get through.  We waited until. this week to call to find out why hubby not received his payment.  After waiting for half hour or more and calls dropped out, we got through and were told since hubby did not receive any pension he should call the new claim (?!).  Reason hubby does not receive any pension because he had not contributed to NI for 10 years or longer - he contributed to NI for 8 years and paid a lot of his salary to NI until he was 65.
We then called the new WFP claim.  They said both of our WFP were made to our joint bank account on 15th December 2020 - £100 each.  We should contact our bank and ask them.  We contacted our bank, they said no, it would be DWP to trace the payments as they only received one payment and not two !!!
Our question is:  who should we contact to sort the missing payment?  DWP or the bank?  DWP insisted that they made the payments, and could not help any further.  Our bank said they could not help because they did not make the payments!
HELP!  Should I approach one of the newspaper (the money section) to ask them if they can help.
Thanks in advance.

A new thread would have been better, rather than asking your question on the end of a thread that's 5 pages long.

I'd advise you to send in bank statements to DWP to prove the other £100 wasn't received.

poppy12345 said:

A new thread would have been better, rather than asking your question on the end of a thread that's 5 pages long.

I'd advise you to send in bank statements to DWP to prove the other £100 wasn't received.

Thanks, poppy12345, for your reply.  Yes, I should have started a new thread.  I will take your advice of sending in the bank statement to DWP to show there was only one payment of £100 and not two payments.

Pollycat

isleofdogs said:

Thanks, poppy12345, for your reply.  Yes, I should have started a new thread.  I will take your advice of sending in the bank statement to DWP to show there was only one payment of £100 and not two payments.

Providing statements is the only way to prove that you haven't had both payments if DWP say they won't investigate further.

I'm surprised the bank checked for you, I'd have checked my own statement.

I'm also surprised that DWP said this:

isleofdogs said:

if the payment not received by 23rd December 2020 we should contact them.

when it says on GOV.UK:

Most payments are made automatically in November or December. You should get your money by 13 January 2021.

isleofdogs

Thanks, Pollycat, for your comments.
I checked our own bank account and one of the payments (claimed by DWP that they made 2 payments).  DWP said I should call the bank and asked them why only one payment was credited to the account - kind of weird.  I kept asking DWP to check the account number which they claimed they paid into and they said they paid into the bank account we gave them on the form   I said maybe one of the digits was mistyped - I checked on the forms we posted them and it wa correct.  The bank said there was only one payment, and I should ask DWP to trace the missing payment.  Neither the bank nor DWP wanted to help!  I will have to write to DWP, enclosing a copy of our bank account statement showing on 15th December 2020 there was only one payment (with my NIN as reference) - nothing for hubby.
If they make the payments on 15th December, how come one of the payments not shown on the bank account?  A bit of a mystery, as payments get credited to the account on the same day as payment date.
Yes, the letters we received from DWP clearly said "If you have not received your payment by 23 December 2020, call us on for free on 0800 "

whizzywoo

Pollycat said:

I'm also surprised that DWP said this:

isleofdogs said:

if the payment not received by 23rd December 2020 we should contact them.

when it says on GOV.UK:

Most payments are made automatically in November or December. You should get your money by 13 January 2021.

The letter I received concerning my own Winter Fuel Payment also says

"lf you have not received your payment by 23 December 2020, call us

for free on 0800 731 0160."
Fortunately I received my payment in November and so haven't had to chase it.  I imagine that the date specified on the website was changed after some of the letters had been sent out.

calcotti

t seems likely that the letters were prepared and issued and then government realised it might take longer this year and changed the advice online.

Pollycat

calcotti said:

t seems likely that the letters were prepared and issued and then government realised it might take longer this year and changed the advice online.

Shot themselves in the foot there then because it's just increased the number of calls they are getting about non-receipt by the date on the letters and is frustrating (at best) and worrying (at worst) for people waiting for and depending on the payment (as is Tyger8).

calcotti

Pollycat said: Shot themselves in the foot there then ...

Some of us might think there was a lot of that in 2020.

[Deleted User]

Tyger8 said:

Good luck with sending in your bank statements, I sent in mine over two weeks ago and still have heard nothing back from them. They still owe me £200 and they don't even bother acknowledging my letters, when you are able to get through to them on the phone which is nigh impossible they just say they're a call centre and do not know if your letters have been received.

When did you send them? 

Pollycat

Tyger8 said:

The most worrying thing for me is that they think they have paid me, regardless of the fact that my bank statements clearly show they haven't. If their system says I've been paid then the money has obviously gone to someone else and they are not prepared to admit this. If the money is not in my account by the13th Jan. which is just two working days away then I am going to make a formal complaint, for all the good that may do.

If it's not resolved by 13/1 maybe try writing to your MP.

Pollycat

There's clearly been some problem at DWP:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/12/winter-fuel-payments-letters-confusion/

Over 60.000 incorrect letters were sent out.

What's the issue? 

There are two separate issues with winter fuel payment letters this year:

• Almost 60,000 letters were sent out listing the wrong bank details. The DWP has confirmed that 59,000 letters had incorrect bank details in them. For example, one MoneySaver told us his letter said his payment would be sent to an account he'd closed more than two years previously. But crucially, the DWP insists payments will be made to the correct accounts.
  
  
• Some additional letters included incorrect information about the level of payment people are entitled to. The DWP says the "vast majority" of letters will have the correct entitlement information in them, although it admitted it's not unusual for it to hold the wrong data about people, especially if you've recently moved house. For example, we've heard from MoneySavers whose letters said they would get a reduced payment as they lived with another eligible person – despite them living alone and being due the full amount.

But you said up-thread that you'd checked the bank details were correct.

Very strange.