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Mixed age couple in receipt of pension age HB as of May 2019 being denied PC
Cl has been wrongly advised by the DWP to claim UC on multiple occasions since April 2021. PC New claims Telephone processing system does not recognise any exceptions to the mixed age rule and call handlers are telling cl & me, they are not eligible to claim PC.
New claims on-line processing system does recognise the exceptions to the general rule however submitted claims have ‘vanished’ from the system even though cl has emails confirming receipt of on-line claims.
48 hour urgent manager call backs have been promised twice but not received. A written complaint has been made and contact with the local MP made, but no response as yet. Local DWP intervention manager is not at work at the moment.
My cl is desperate for money, surviving only on £460/ mth state pension and has not received any of the means tested cost of living payments.
Does anyone have a telephone number or email address where this issue can be raised? this will not just be affecting my cl but all applicants who have called to claim PCs since June 2019 and fall into the exception rule.
Have they been in receipt of Housing Benefit under the pension age rules continuously since 14 May 2019? That’s the first important thing to check.
There are problems with Pension Service administration but I’ve not come across any cases that are as extreme as what you’re suggesting i.e. multiple PC claims made but not awarded, no progress through various channels etc.
Im currently dealing with a vanishing online PC claim too. I wonder how many people have been effected by this and whats causing it to happen. It only came to light after the client calling PC for an update on the claim as it had been 4 months. Ive not been able to get anyone from PC to be able to help and have now resorted to a complaint by letter as im trying to preserve the start date of the claim.
Does anyone know who we could highlight this issue too as im sure there will be more vanishing claims?
Yes Paul they have been in receipt of HB continuously since at least May 2019.
The fundamental issue tho Paul is that the Telephone Claims process does not even allow the call handler to record the fact that the cl was in receipt of HB at the relevant date.
As soon as the call hander puts in the DoB of the applicants in, the system states that they are not eligible to PC, the call handler is not able to override the message, they are not able to proceed further ( even if they were aware of the exception rules, which the vast majority of call handlers are not)
When they are made aware of the exception to the rule, this is when they request a 48 hour manager call back, which never materialises.
Hence I am asking for a route where this issue can be escalated as this will have and will continue to impact on many many applicants.
LC,
I always email complaints re DWP benefits to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and have had no problems with them passing to the correct section of the DWP.
Jim
I put in a complaint about a mixed age couple being told by PC staff they must claim UC; this advice lost them their pension age HB. They can’t get UC and so have lost entitlement altogether.
The complaint was sent in November last year.
No reply.
Sorry, last posting should have been to Marie.
Jim
Im currently dealing with a vanishing online PC claim too. I wonder how many people have been effected by this and whats causing it to happen. It only came to light after the client calling PC for an update on the claim as it had been 4 months. Ive not been able to get anyone from PC to be able to help and have now resorted to a complaint by letter as im trying to preserve the start date of the claim.
Does anyone know who we could highlight this issue too as im sure there will be more vanishing claims?
Yes LC, my cl made an on-line claim in Oct, and received an email confirmation that it had been received. Called PC in Dec as they had not heard anything. Call Handler could see the application and the fact that we had requested back dating. Call Handler stated that they would sent a 10 day chaser message to the processing team.
By the middle of Jan, cl had still not received any communication, when we called again this was when PC told us they had no record of the application nor any record of the contact we had with PC in Dec.
By another call handler I was told that no ‘contacts’ will ever be recorded as there is not a live application to attach the contact too…....
The cl has made another on-line application but suspect there is an issue with that process to. In my interactions with DWP I have stated that it is rare for a systems error to only impact on one record and more likely ‘hundreds if not thousands of records’ will have vanished, but I am sorry to say, they just don’t seem to care.
If it is indeed the case that data has been lost/accidentally deleted from DWP systems then that might constitute a data breach - something you could report in the first instance to the DWP data compliance team, and failing a resolution from their end, report it to the ICO.
But, it may well be the case that the claims aren’t lost, just buried somewhere under some bureaucracy.
LC,
I always email complaints re DWP benefits to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and have had no problems with them passing to the correct section of the DWP.
Jim
Yes Jim, I have sent email to this address and apart from an automated response telling me they receive thousands of emails a day to this address, I have not received a response but thanks for replying
If it is indeed the case that data has been lost/accidentally deleted from DWP systems then that might constitute a data breach - something you could report in the first instance to the DWP data compliance team, and failing a resolution from their end, report it to the ICO.
But, it may well be the case that the claims aren’t lost, just buried somewhere under some bureaucracy.
Thanks. Do you have an email addres for the data compliance team please?
I will give this a go but I need a route that will get the processing team to put the cl’s claim into payment asap
I put in a complaint about a mixed age couple being told by PC staff they must claim UC; this advice lost them their pension age HB. They can’t get UC and so have lost entitlement altogether.
The complaint was sent in November last year.
No reply.
Thankfully the Cl’s Local Authority told them it was unlikely they would be better off claiming UC as they were benefiting from ‘old style’ HB so cl did not make a claim for UC. their only saving grace.
Do you know how long we have to give the complaints team to respond before contacting the Independent Case Examiner? Surely the DWP are not allowed not to respond thereby removing the cl’s ability to escalate the issue?
If it is indeed the case that data has been lost/accidentally deleted from DWP systems then that might constitute a data breach - something you could report in the first instance to the DWP data compliance team, and failing a resolution from their end, report it to the ICO.
But, it may well be the case that the claims aren’t lost, just buried somewhere under some bureaucracy.
Thanks. Do you have an email addres for the data compliance team please?
I will give this a go but I need a route that will get the processing team to put the cl’s claim into payment asap
I would say that a data loss probably the least likely thing that has happened here, i.e. not likely to get you anywhere. On the other hand, it would also be the most severe, with greater implications for public interest etc :)
Marie - if you want to set it all out in an email to me (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and include the claimant’s details, I will escalate it via the stakeholder forum - include all your attempts to escalate
Sorry Marie, been busy today but we’ve also just heard about similar case to yours.
I’m going to contact Pension Service for our adviser and can also highlight your difficulties in the process.
LC,
I always email complaints re DWP benefits to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and have had no problems with them passing to the correct section of the DWP.
Jim
I emailed them a couple of weeks ago and have not had any response at all. I have resorted to sending a letter of complaint.