Pension Credit review

In August last year the pension service said that they wanted to review my Pension Credit and would I send them copies of all my bank statements.
I did this and received a letter saying I would hear the result within 3 weeks. Since them I have heard nothing. That's over six months. I have called and written to them a few times but just get a 'still under review' answer.
Is this normal?
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  • pambie wrote: »
    In August last year the pension service said that they wanted to review my Pension Credit and would I send them copies of all my bank statements.
    I did this and received a letter saying I would hear the result within 3 weeks. Since them I have heard nothing. That's over six months. I have called and written to them a few times but just get a 'still under review' answer.
    Is this normal?

    - there are different types of review :

    - .1. an amount of claims are selected at random and lightly investigated
    - .2. the AIP selects a particular claim for expected changes
    - .3. the Green Division selects a particular claim for clawback

    If after the initial PC is awarded a client receives a [COD] Private Pension and does not notify the pensions service, they will eventually be informed by the HMRC when tax is deducted and a P60 issued.

    So .1. would be .. .. you were a random check .2. would be where the original claim for Pension Credit was awarded for a period of less than five years and then looked at again in say two years, and .3. would be where they have found something you should have but did not notify them about, such as for example a Private Pension that would lead to a [COD] contracted out deduction.

    Why six months - I've no idea, they obviously don't have, and can't find sufficient information on whatever the heck they thought they had in the first place, so try not to concern yourself with it, just forget about it until they make further contact with you.
    Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ
  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 1,946
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    They took seven months to deal with our pension credits when we had to send in bank statements etc. and they just kept saying they were behind. We were due for an increase in the amounts they paid to us. Now we've found that we will no longer be eligible to claim and guess what. They managed to deal with the paperwork in just seven days!
    Incidentally, now that we're 65 we will be living below the minimum amount the state says you need to live on. Great isn't it? You save and save for your retirement and then they kick you in the teeth and say you have too much in savings and so you have to pay full council tax.
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • uponahill
    uponahill Posts: 318 Forumite
    Don't get me started on THAT shower in Glasgow!

    They never reply to a letter and they never return a phone call.

    There are that many quirks in the system that they themselves don't know what they are doing.

    You are better off keeping away from them.

    And you just try to back them in a corner and expect an honest reply - the thing they do best to to Suspend payments and not tell you why and what you can do about it and best off all they have a really good habit of closing claims down for any little reason!

    As for CTB, they are just the same, well advised to steer clear and just pay your way!

    You just wouldn't believe the volume of paperwork I have of matters that have been cocked up with both of them - 5 ring files, each 3" thick covering the past 3 years!!!
  • McKneff
    McKneff Posts: 38,816
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    edited 6 March 2012 at 8:10PM
    They took seven months to deal with our pension credits when we had to send in bank statements etc. and they just kept saying they were behind. We were due for an increase in the amounts they paid to us. Now we've found that we will no longer be eligible to claim and guess what. They managed to deal with the paperwork in just seven days!
    Incidentally, now that we're 65 we will be living below the minimum amount the state says you need to live on. Great isn't it? You save and save for your retirement and then they kick you in the teeth and say you have too much in savings and so you have to pay full council tax.

    I dont understand the last bit of your post. The minimum amount the state says you can live on is around £209 per week, Both your state pensions must far outweigh this. You may also have SP2 and private pensions if you have been wise enough to save, you may have been wise enough to pay into pensions.
    Dont get me wrong, My OH and I have retired, cant claim anything, not even pension credit but we can easily manage on our state pension(including Sp2 which we have earned).And we pay full council tax too. I'm responsible for me and quite happy to be so.

    edited to change the weekly amount, apologies.
    make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
    and we will never, ever return.
  • uponahill
    uponahill Posts: 318 Forumite
    Currently a couple are guaranteed £209.70 a week. Add to that if both get the lowest rate of Attendance Allowance and each claim to care for each other, that goes up to £382.30 a week plus the Attendance Allowance payments of £49.30 for each of them. Add to that they will pay no council tax - saving say £26 a week and full housing benefit of say £100.00 a week OR instead the mortgage interest of up to £70.00 a week.

    So in that example the couple are said to need £452.30 if they have a mortgage under Pension Credit, with another £99.00 a week in disability payments + CTB of £26.00 a week

    Not bad for a pensioner couple!!
  • McKneff
    McKneff Posts: 38,816
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    bl oo dy hell, its no wonder the country is is such a mess,
    make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
    and we will never, ever return.
  • They took seven months to deal with our pension credits when we had to send in bank statements etc. and they just kept saying they were behind. We were due for an increase in the amounts they paid to us. Now we've found that we will no longer be eligible to claim and guess what. They managed to deal with the paperwork in just seven days!
    Incidentally, now that we're 65 we will be living below the minimum amount the state says you need to live on. Great isn't it? You save and save for your retirement and then they kick you in the teeth and say you have too much in savings and so you have to pay full council tax.

    Unless the reduction is as a result of an overpayment recovery arrangement made with you :

    - its a ball
    - it rolls this way and that
    - pension credit is also an enabling [Guarantee Credit] benefit
    - reapply for everything council tax / housing benefit / mortgage interest etc
    Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ
  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 1,946
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    I dont understand the last bit of your post. The minimum amount the state says you can live on is around £209 per week, Both your state pensions must far outweigh this.
    In April our pensions will exceed the amount we need to live on by about 30p per week. The mistake we made was to have just over £16000 in savings. Apparently we have a much larger income from the interest earned on our savings (I wish) and because we have exceeded the £16000 limit we will have to pay full council tax. I don't know exactly how much this will be but I'm expecting something in the region of £100 per month. We'll get a small amount of pension savings credit but because of our savings they start to claw back the amount you would have got if you hadn't saved more than £10000. It hardly seems worth saving for your retirement.
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • Anubis_2
    Anubis_2 Posts: 4,077 Forumite
    uponahill wrote: »
    Currently a couple are guaranteed £209.70 a week. Add to that if both get the lowest rate of Attendance Allowance and each claim to care for each other, that goes up to £382.30 a week plus the Attendance Allowance payments of £49.30 for each of them. Add to that they will pay no council tax - saving say £26 a week and full housing benefit of say £100.00 a week OR instead the mortgage interest of up to £70.00 a week.

    So in that example the couple are said to need £452.30 if they have a mortgage under Pension Credit, with another £99.00 a week in disability payments + CTB of £26.00 a week

    Not bad for a pensioner couple!!

    Lot of ifs in there. My in laws get nothing, they both paid into pension schemes and are just above. They don't get mortgage payments or HB either, they get zero. There are two sides to every coin!
    How people treat you becomes their karma; how you react becomes yours.
  • uponahill
    uponahill Posts: 318 Forumite
    In April our pensions will exceed the amount we need to live on by about 30p per week. The mistake we made was to have just over £16000 in savings. Apparently we have a much larger income from the interest earned on our savings (I wish) and because we have exceeded the £16000 limit we will have to pay full council tax. I don't know exactly how much this will be but I'm expecting something in the region of £100 per month. We'll get a small amount of pension savings credit but because of our savings they start to claw back the amount you would have got if you hadn't saved more than £10000. It hardly seems worth saving for your retirement.

    This is a common problem. Council Tax benefit is not as forgiving as regards capital and add on premiums such as housing costs as is Pension Credit.

    As you have found out that because of that 30p you receive over the PC limit, it will effectively cost you £1000's in Council Tax!!

    This is causing a problem with many others from April. The State Pension has gone up by more than the PC limit, and as such many pensioners that are within GPC now, will lose that protection after April. In other words their State Pension increase will, like you, tip them over the limit!!

    I don't think that this was the intention, but it is what is happening.

    Wouldn't it be so nice to give away that 35p a week and be entitled to GPC of just 5p? For that, you will save, as I have said, £1,000's in CT and loss of add on premiums.
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