Banks slow to respond

Catkins22

My mother died on 3 May. My brother and I agreed not to use a solicitor because her estate is straightforward and I feel confident to deal with it.
I notified her banks and pension providers and DWP within a week or so of her death and read up on what to do on www.gov.uk.
Although they've all now (except NS&I) acknowledged this initial contact, I'm still waiting for them to tell me the information I asked them for so I can settle her income tax bill and value the estate. 
What's a reasonable timescale? Does anyone else have experience of this? How can I speed them up?

Gers

Sorry that your experience has been so difficult.  My mother died on 22 May - ditto no legal intervention for confirmation as estate is simple though, in Scots Law terms, a large and excepted one.

I used the Tell us Once service for HMRC / DWP / Council / Passport etc.  The response times were excellent.  First contact from HMRC and also DWP was about 'thank you for the contact' and 'we'll get back to you'.  On Saturday I received a refund cheque from HMRC for overpaid income tax.  Today I received the letter telling me that a refund was on the way!

DWP wrote on 18 June to  tell me that an overpayment of one weeks SP was due for repayment so I did that the same day. No mention of AA as DM died on a Saturday.  She wasn't in receipt of any other benefits.

DM's bank was easily dealt with. They had an online notification service to which I uploaded the death certificate and a certified copy of the will.  As I am also an account holder with the same bank the monies was fairly swiftly swept into my account.

NS&I are still to respond...I sent off the form two weeks ago (after a failed attempt to do it online).  NS&I will be the only organisation which requires confirmation as DM had tidied her affairs well before her death. 

I can't help about ways to hurry the organisations up, it does seem rather tardy of them.  Perhaps your DM's affairs were more complicated than mine.  I hope that you are able to chivvy them up somehow.

Swipe

As above, I also recommend the Tell Us Once and also the Death Notification Service to notify the financial institutions but disappointing that CO-OP bank and NS&I aren't participants.

Marcon

Catkins22 said:

My mother died on 3 May. My brother and I agreed not to use a solicitor because her estate is straightforward and I feel confident to deal with it.
I notified her banks and pension providers and DWP within a week or so of her death and read up on what to do on www.gov.uk.
Although they've all now (except NS&I) acknowledged this initial contact, I'm still waiting for them to tell me the information I asked them for so I can settle her income tax bill and value the estate. 
What's a reasonable timescale? Does anyone else have experience of this? How can I speed them up?

If you lost your mother so recently, and promptly turned your hand to winding up her affairs, I can understand your frustration that other parties aren't similarly efficient - but you'll save yourself a lot of frustration if you accept that you simply need to be a little more patient. Huge (and I mean huge) backlogs built up during the early stages of the problems arising from COVID, and many financial institutions are still battling to clear those, working through them in order of receipt. 

I'd diarise for another month and contact them again if you've still heard nothing.

Poundcat

My mother died in April.  Maybe we found the right person at the right time but I think it took NS&I about a fortnight to give us valuations, if that.  

I would try contacting them again TBH