DWP UK Pension payment in France arbitrarily stopped - anyone else?

EuropePension

The DWP international pensions office manager in Wolverhampton wrote a letter to me dated 30 December 2025 which arrived here in France on 17 January 2026. The manager said my pension payments were being stopped from December 2025. The 4-weekly payment due on 6 January did not arrive at my bank. He or she claimed not to have received the signed and witnessed Life Certificate I had sent in the printed prepaid envelope on 23.9.2025. I signed and had witnessed by the Post Office manager here on 17.1.2026 another Life Certificate and sent it 'lettre suivi'. It was confirmed delivered to the Wolverhampton office on the morning of Wednesday 21.1.2026. I also sent copies of both certificates with emails requesting restoration of payments to tvp.internationalqueries@dwp.gov.uk. No acknowledgement or response to date. The chief reporter at Connexion France, Liv Rowland has contacted the DWP and a respondent there has said they will follow up my case. Anyone else in France or elsewhere in the same position? Cheers, Jane in France

Northern_Wanderer

If they didn't receive the required info then yes, it would stop your pension. Perhaps you could submit a Mandatory Reconsideration? Do you have proof of the letter first being sent?

pinnks

I'm not sure why you would need a Mandatory Reconsideration.  Once they receive the PoL certificate they weill reinstate pension and pay the arrears.

squirrelpie

I hope it works out. Maybe a Lettre Recommandée would carry more weight with the DWP?

Grumpy_chap

EuropePension said:

The DWP international pensions office manager in Wolverhampton wrote a letter to me dated 30 December 2025 which arrived here in France on 17 January 2026. The manager said my pension payments were being stopped from December 2025. The 4-weekly payment due on 6 January did not arrive at my bank. He or she claimed not to have received the signed and witnessed Life Certificate I had sent in the printed prepaid envelope on 23.9.2025. I signed and had witnessed by the Post Office manager here on 17.1.2026 another Life Certificate and sent it 'lettre suivi'. It was confirmed delivered to the Wolverhampton office on the morning of Wednesday 21.1.2026. I also sent copies of both certificates with emails requesting restoration of payments to tvp.internationalqueries@dwp.gov.uk. No acknowledgement or response to date. The chief reporter at Connexion France, Liv Rowland has contacted the DWP and a respondent there has said they will follow up my case. Anyone else in France or elsewhere in the same position? Cheers, Jane in France

I don't think the title of this thread is wholly accurate.
The SP has not been arbitrarily stopped.
It is a standard process that there is verification that the recipient is not yet deceased, i.e. alive.
All that has happened is a delivery / administration failure in your confirmation of still being in the living state.  Once this process is correctly concluded, SP will continue and arrears resolved.

QrizB

EuropePension said:

The DWP international pensions office manager in Wolverhampton wrote a letter to me dated 30 December 2025 which arrived here in France on 17 January 2026. The manager said my pension payments were being stopped from December 2025. The 4-weekly payment due on 6 January did not arrive at my bank. 

Nice to see DWP doing what they say they'll do, when they say they'll do it! Far too many threads on this board complain that DWP are weeks or months late with things.

EuropePension said:

He or she claimed not to have received the signed and witnessed Life Certificate I had sent in the printed prepaid envelope on 23.9.2025.

Occam's Razor would suggest that, in stating they had not received your proof of life, they genuinely hadn't received it. "Claimed" makes it sound as though there's some subterfuge going on.

EuropePension said:

I signed and had witnessed by the Post Office manager here on 17.1.2026 another Life Certificate and sent it 'lettre suivi'. It was confirmed delivered to the Wolverhampton office on the morning of Wednesday 21.1.2026.

Three days prior to your post on this forum, and only two working days ago. I wouldn't expect anything to have changed yet.

EuropePension said:

The chief reporter at Connexion France, Liv Rowland has contacted the DWP and a respondent there has said they will follow up my case.

This seems a bit extreme?

DWP didn't receive your proof of life in 2025 and think you're dead, so they've stopped paying your pension. Once they process your most recent missive they'll reinstate it.

EuropePension

Thanks all - I sent the first Life Certificate in the prepaid printed envelope last September which the post office here said they could not register "suivi". The second Life Certificate I sent suivi was confirmed in my online Poste account as delivered to Wolverhampton on Wednesday 21.1.26 but the following Monday I got an email saying I had not replied. I phoned and spoke with a lovely Irishman in South Shields who looked at my file, said the Life Certificate had been received and would action my account so payments could be resumed. He sent a text to the same effect and said I should received the delayed payment within 3-5 days.