DWP & HMRC systems incompetence

magickmagpie

I qualified for my state pension in June of this year - and since then it seems that every time DWP or HMRC have to deal with anything to do with me their systems get it wrong!!!

Firstly, it appears they are paying me an incorrect amount of state pension - my pension forecast in May 2023 showed I should get 197.01 pounds per week, but actually I'm only getting 191.19 a week. I think the confusion was caused by my paying a years worth of voluntary contributions for 2022/2023 in March 2023. Despite contacting DWP twice since June and being told yes, this looks incorrect and it would be looked in to, and I would receive a letter, I've not heard anything back from them. I'm hoping it might sort itself out by the next tax year???

Secondly, I just got my Winter Fuel Payment letter - and it was incorrect - stating that I live with someone else who was eligible. I've live alone since my partner died 3 years ago. When I rang them, they said I should call the Bereavement Service in case they didn't know my partner had died and so their system hadn't been updated. I rang them and they confirmed they did know and had known for the past three years. Another call to the Winter Fuel Payment people who say they have now updated their system and said they would send a letter informing me of the correct amount - we'll see!!

Thirdly, HMRC needed 3 goes to get my tax codes anything like correct (I get state pension plus a couple of small private pensions). I'm still not convinced they are actually right, but they are probably close enough and I'm hoping that this will sort itself out come next tax year - the confusion being caused by my state pension starting part-way through the tax year. I was self-employed before I retired and I must say that PAYE seems far more complicated than self-assessment ever was!!!

Add to the frustration of so many errors being made in the first place the time it takes to get through to DWP on the phone each time, and I am seriously concerned about the competence/reliability of the systems used by government departments these days! I'm lucky in that I am able to use the internet to research and check these things out and and jump through all the hoops to highlight some of the mistakes - but someone vulnerable may not be able to do this and it makes me wonder how many pensioners out there are being incorrectly paid by the government and may not even realise!!! It's notable that all the errors I have found have been underpayments rather than overpayments (and in the case of HMRC I think I'm paying slightly too much tax).

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Were you liable to pay tax under PAYE before the State Pension started?

If so I fear you may have totally misunderstood how tax and the State Pension works!

xylophone

Firstly, it appears they are paying me an incorrect amount of state pension - my pension forecast in May 2023 showed I should get 197.01 pounds per week, but actually I'm only getting 191.19 a week. I think the confusion was caused by my paying a years worth of voluntary contributions for 2022/2023 in March 2023. Despite contacting DWP twice since June and being told yes, this looks incorrect and it would be looked in to, and I would receive a letter, I've not heard anything back from them. I'm hoping it might sort itself out by the next tax year???

A faint light on the horizon?


https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-10927867/How-state-pension-Steve-Webb-launches-site-help.html

tacpot12

You could complain about your pension payment to your MP. They are usually pretty good at getting things sorted quickly. This should be an easy one for them as the DWP agreed that the amount is correct. (Don't think for a minute that your actual MP sorts this sort of problem out. They have a team of staff to help with consituent's problems).  

magickmagpie

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Were you liable to pay tax under PAYE before the State Pension started?

If so I fear you may have totally misunderstood how tax and the State Pension works!

No - my private pensions were under the personal allowance, so I only started paying PAYE tax once I started to get my state pension. PAYE was deducted from my private pensions once I started getting my state pension - but at the wrong amounts (and no, they weren't emergency tax codes). HMRC were well aware of the amounts of my private pensions as these were shown on my online tax account - they just got something wrong several times when assigning the tax codes. I've since been told this can be quite common if your income changes part way through a tax year!