Death in Service Payments

bubblecut

Hi, i thought i would ask on here if anyone knows how long you should wait to receive a Death in Service payment?  
My husband died two months ago and had a death in service payment set up with his employers.  They have told me, the forms have been filled in but there was a delay in sending them off to L&G because they needed to be signed by trustee.
I have read that it is normally paid within 2 weeks to 30 days and we are now well past that date. 
I keep chasing, which I shouldn't have to do, and now they tell me L&G  are still reviewing the claim.  What is there to review?  He has me down as his beneficiary on his Expression of Wishes form.
I'm a but dubious because the company he worked for were very incompetent and all they keep telling me is we will chase it next week.  It's not good enough as far as I am concerned, I just feel that they are stalling making the payment.
Does anyone know who to contact to make a complaint about how long this is taking?
Thank you 

Brie

Do you have enough information to contact L&G and ask where they are with the processing? 

If your husband's employer has been incompetent or slow or whatever in sending off the claim info then L&G can't really be blamed so it would be good to know when they received it and what their timescales are.  2 weeks from receipt seems reasonable as it should be straight forward - check the info is correct, figure out what the payout needs to be, set up the payment, let their payment system cycle in whatever way it does and the ££ gets sent off.  Maybe the employer didn't include all the relevant details or L&G require sight of the death certificate and it wasn't sent originally.  Maybe someone crucial in the process was/is on holiday.  

If L&G are dragging their heels then that's where you need to complain but if it's the employer then I don't think there's much that you can do other than keep phoning them.

Sorry for your loss and how stupid things like this just make a difficult time even worse.

bubblecut

Thanks Brie, I have been in touch with his employers again.  I think it's been a bit of both actually, the employer's HR dept  are stating that in their experience it normally takes two months but the company are not that competent I know from my husband's dealings with them whilst he was in their employment. I did chase again last week and i have heard from them today, they have heard back from L&G and the payment should be released in 3-5 days, which is good news.  

Yes, it doesn't help the situation, i've had to do a lot of chasing financial institutiions, you wouldn't think it was your money you were chasing!