State pension claim waiting 5 months

ceejay101

Hi,
Has anyone else made a claim for their state pension in the past few months and not got any updates.
I claimed for my state pension using the online form on 22 Jan this year, got an email notification and have heard nothing since.
The phone help line is useless - never answered.
I have written 3 times trying to prod the system and no replies.
Makes me think the Dept Works and Pensions is operating with skeleton staff and I am unlikely to get my pension and they are waiting for me to die!!!!
Disgruntled and dont know how to sort this out.
Anyone else dealing with the same?
TIA

drumtochty

Pretty normal for the DWP. If you phone up at 7:59 in the morning and then do redials sometimes that gets the phone answered but it can take a week of doing that for the first 5 minutes of their working day for it to work.

MalMonroe

When is your pension due to begin and did you receive a letter before you sent in your form? All the info is here -

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

Including how to make a complaint. 

I have to say a relative who works there has said that the DWP Pensions dept is struggling to cope with demand at the moment.  It's the demographic timebomb don't you know? 

Amateurretiree

Do you get it backdated?

drumtochty

Yes it will be backdated if it starts payment after it should have started based on your DOB.

downshifted

I’ve just applied for mine, no acknowledgement yet. I was late applying because I paid some additional NI for the last 3 years to enhance my pension. I did this on March 29 and was told it could take up to 10 weeks to credit the sum to my account, it hadn’t by 11, so I chased and got it done. 

In view of that delay I’m really not expecting my pension to be paid anytime soon, I’ll update when it is.

MX5huggy

MalMonroe said:

When is your pension due to begin and did you receive a letter before you sent in your form? All the info is here -

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

Including how to make a complaint. 

I have to say a relative who works there has said that the DWP Pensions dept is struggling to cope with demand at the moment.  It's the demographic timebomb don't you know? 

It’s not like they had 67 or is it only 66 currently years notice! 

Robert_McGeddon

OP, I feel for you.

I applied by post on 3 March for a due start date mid-April. Got a text on 4 June saying they'd processed it and I didn't need to contact them (as if I could!) Confirmation letter arrived 14 June. 1st payment had been made by that date.

Online is supposed to be quicker than post so there may be a bigger problem than just understaffing. Maybe write a formal complaint for lack of communication/accessability as well as delay in payment?

parcival

MrsP did not have to apply - she got an invitation in the post which she replied to......followed by confirmation of the amount and first payment date.  Invitation was exactly 4 months prior to 66th birthday.

Listlad

Yes, I am having the same problem. 

SouthCoastBoy

This really is awful customer service, and doesn't appear to be a one off, it seems many people are impacted. Surely there should be some sort of compensation given for the late delay? As pointed out earlier it is not as if the claim is unexpecteI

If I decided to file my tax return a few months late I am sure I would be fined!