Royal Mail lost IHT forms - next steps?

jmr95

Bue21 said:

When I sent my Mothers Will to Probate the Royal Mail tracking was the same. After a couple of weeks of Panic (I did have a certified copy but there is only one original will) I called the probate Office and they confirmed they had received the will. Apparently it does happen all the time as  Royal Mail don’t get individual signatures when they deliver in bulk. Rather defeats the objective of the service when you want to prove something has arrived though!

Thanks for this. So even Special Delivery may not show as delivered? The thing is, in my case, it's not even been shown as scanned out for delivery, just that it had reached an 'MC'

I will resend Special Delivery, and see what happens!

But indeed this just seems like yet another flaw in a heavily flawed system.

user1977

Special Delivery has better tracking, yes. 

SoozyJ22

I sent some IHT updates tracked (RM48) at the end of July and similarly the tracking stopped at North West Midlands MC so I was really worried they hadn't arrived. I phoned earlier this week and after half an hour on hold was told they had actually arrived on the 1st of August which was a big relief. 

I've used RM48 to send lots of other documents to banks etc and always been scanned as delivered (though no signature or a photo in some cases) so not sure if this is just an IHT/HMRC thing or I was just unlucky. Where I've used Special Delivery (including sending the original IHT forms) that's always shown as delivered. 

jmr95

SoozyJ22 said:

I sent some IHT updates tracked (RM48) at the end of July and similarly the tracking stopped at North West Midlands MC so I was really worried they hadn't arrived. I phoned earlier this week and after half an hour on hold was told they had actually arrived on the 1st of August which was a big relief. 

I've used RM48 to send lots of other documents to banks etc and always been scanned as delivered (though no signature or a photo in some cases) so not sure if this is just an IHT/HMRC thing or I was just unlucky. Where I've used Special Delivery (including sending the original IHT forms) that's always shown as delivered. 

Thanks - this is reassuring, and there is a fair amount of - admittedly anecdotal- evidence to suggest this is probably going to be what ends up happening here. Even though Royal Mail tell me it's 'probably lost'

When I called HMRC they said, that as I do not have an IHT ref yet, they would not know if it had been received yet, as they are still processing mail from earlier than the date I sent the pack, but if I call back in a week they will likely know (so, rather similar time window to you!)

However, if it was this common, you would think that both HMRC and Royal Mail would highlight this (and ideally RM would dissuade you from using the tracked service...)

I have decided to just send it in again via SD - worst case, it ends up as a duplicate and goes in the bin...best case, I save myself at least another week of further delay.

Why this is not digital is utterly beyond me.

sheramber

The post code for HMRC is a sorting office where  HMRC mail is held until delivered in bulk or collected. 

Similar to a PO Box. There is nobody to sign for anything .  That assumes signing has been reinstated as it was stopped during Covid and the postie signed that he has delivered it. 

I have not read of anybody  being asked to sign for anything since. I certainly haven’t. It was just put through the letter box. 

BethRobinson

Grey_Critic said:

Is it not possible to scan all the documents and email to HMRC? 

The Post Office has just gone downhill in recent years. They want to concentrate on parcels - maybe we should do an Amazon and put everything in big boxes no matter that it is just a sheet of paper

The Post Office don't deliver anything though.

jmr95

Well, the exact same thing has happened with Special Delivery. 

I am just going to have to assume that this is just a quirk of the postcode as noted and that the status of the delivery is not reliable.

That said, if there's no update to the SD status tomorrow, then I don't have much choice other than waiting a few weeks an asking HMRC. I will file a claim via Royal Mail.

What a total shambles this is. I will update this as and when I hear anything back from RM or HMRC as it may give others reassurance in the same boat.