Winter fuel payment

[Deleted User]

Tyger8 said:

Here we are D-day and still no word from DWP and still no WFP in my account. What a bunch of incompetent people must be working in that office.

Then you follow the process of starting an official complaint and also get your MP involved, that might hurry things along. 

[Deleted User]

Number for the helpline too in case you want to chase them again before going down formal complaint route. 

0800 731 0160

Pollycat

Tyger8

I think DWP should have asked you for bank statements when you first rang just before Christmas (23rd) instead of telling you to ring back after the revised deadline of 13/1/21 as their records showed that they had paid you on 24/11/20 and you were insistent that you hadn't received it.

At that point, it shouldn't have been a case of 'wait until the deadline' fob-off but 'a payment has gone missing and we need to investigate' scenario.

I would chase them by phone for an update on their findings re the bank accounts you've sent them.

And start a formal complaint.

And involve your MP.

calcotti

Pollycat said: ..And start a formal complaint. And involve your MP.

Tyger has already stated s/he has done both of those.

Pollycat

calcotti said:

Pollycat said: ..And start a formal complaint. And involve your MP.

Tyger has already stated s/he has done both of those.

I missed that post.

I was the one who suggested (on 9/1/) that she get her MP involved.

At that point, she hadn't.

[Deleted User]

I think everything you can do has been done now. It’s a waiting game. 

Are you in debt with energy provider? There’s grants available to help. 

molerat

Someone having similar problems in the MSE news thread, seems DWP know exactly where the money has gone but are being slow to do anything about it.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77957493/#Comment_77957493

Pollycat

molerat said:

Someone having similar problems in the MSE news thread, seems DWP know exactly where the money has gone but are being slow to do anything about it.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77957493/#Comment_77957493

That's a good spot, molerat.

Here's the relevant post for Tyger8:

23Bunter said:

The DWP seem to have seriously screwed up this year :  they have sent my WFP regularly over the past few years to the same bank account, but this year it failed to show up because they sent it to to some very old, long closed account.  They admitted the mistake and promised payment to the correct account by December 23 (not received) then by January 13 (also not received).
They told me 'we are still awaiting repayment from the bank we sent it to in error' .  This is preposterous !   I actually use the cash
to buy fuel oil every winter so am now overdrawn.  If this applies to 60,000 cases (as admitted to MSE apparently) then it amounts to a £10m error, entirely their own fault because they used old data. 
They can't offer me any new payment date, let alone apologise - not good for stressed pensioners !  

This is shocking and - imho - needs escalating.

An individual on benefits (even if it's only state pension, not means-tested) shouldn't have to wait for a payment they are entitled to whilst DWP faff about trying to get money back that they've paid to someone else in error.

ETA:

Hang on...

If a payment is sent to an account that has been closed for some time, wouldn't it bounce back to the originator?

Would the bank hold on to a payment to a closed account?

I don't know enough about how bank accounts work to know the answers.

Tyger8

I phoned them up today about my WFP and it will be the last time I do. It was a complete waste of time, going over and over the same thing and do you know what they ended up saying, give it another 28 days. I feel like writing this years payment off and only hope I don't have to go through the same thing next time it's due.

Pollycat

What did they say about the bank statements that you sent them 2 weeks ago?

Have you had any response from your MP?