DWP

[salavan]

Do British expats living in Thailand  receiving a UK state pension have to fill in a cf(n)698 form "proof of life form" So they can continue to receive their state pension. 
I just been reading that pensions are being stopped because DWP have failed to send out these forms.

[Eff1n2ret]

Proof of life forms are sent out every so often by the DWP and on occasion by private pension providers. Failure to respond to them does result in payments  being suspended. The biggest risk for many, including myself, is that the Thai Postal service is so erratic that the form isn't delivered, so the first you know about it is when the pension is stopped. 

The notion that the DWP stops payments because they  haven't sent out the form is nonsense.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Eff1n2ret

[foreverlomsak]

Yes and no.

1 friend has been told he needs submit one every year along with an annual self-assessment tax return.

A 2nd friend who has been here for many years and has a number of pensions says he's never been asked for one.

As far as I can work out it's somewhere between, the official line appears to be if they want one they will contact you, if you have the payments going into a UK bank and have a UK address very unlikely that they will ask. 

[proton]

we often get letters 3 weeks late these days posted locally, bills etc as well as never arriving or put in the wrong box.

[Shannoblic]

May I offer some advice?

 

If you register your email with DWP and your personal pension provider they will often contact you via email.  If they don't they will send the form to your registered UK address.  If you have someone at that address in the UK you can have them scan it and email it to you.

 

Once received you can actually do the process by telephone rather than form filling, witnessing and return.

 

Hope this helps.

[Doctor Tom]

3 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

Yes and no.

1 friend has been told he needs submit one every year along with an annual self-assessment tax return.

A 2nd friend who has been here for many years and has a number of pensions says he's never been asked for one.

As far as I can work out it's somewhere between, the official line appears to be if they want one they will contact you, if you have the payments going into a UK bank and have a UK address very unlikely that they will ask. 

For another example.  I fill in UK tax self assessment every year and I have had two 'proof of life' forms to complete from my company pension provider,  (online, not hard copy)  but no form, yet, from the DWP.  It seems to be all very random. 

[salavan]

12 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Proof of life forms are sent out every so often by the DWP and on occasion by private pension providers. Failure to respond to them does result in payments  being suspended. The biggest risk for many, including myself, is that the Thai Postal service is so erratic that the form isn't delivered, so the first you know about it is when the pension is stopped. 

The notion that the DWP stops payments because they  haven't sent out the form is nonsense.

The article I read was actually concerning expats in Canada apparently according to DWP the forms got lost in the post and pension payments were stopped. 

[Eff1n2ret]

1 minute ago, salavan said:

the forms got lost in the post and pension payments were stopped. 

Which is what I said, not the fault of the DWP - although if the Government Gateway system was a bit more joined up they wouldn't need to send forms to people like me who submit a tax return every year.

[BritManToo]

No proof of life required for people in the UK.

So easier to claim you live in the UK.

[salavan]

58 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Which is what I said, not the fault of the DWP - although if the Government Gateway system was a bit more joined up they wouldn't need to send forms to people like me who submit a tax return every year.

I also submit a tax return each year but have never been sent a form as there is no need, but that got me thinking about proof of life form as I another just started getting state pension a year ago

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, salavan said:

I've just been reading that pensions are being stopped because DWP have failed to send out these forms.

I have accused DWP of not sending PoLF because it has happened to me twice.

 

Once i had telephoned them they said they will send another i got that one but never the alleged 1st one with which they withheld my pension. 

 

I email them every 6 months and ask if one has been sent, they just say we have no record of any life form not received from you.  

Your next is due to be paid on such such a date.

[blackcab]

An unhelpful post has been removed.

[OJAS]

The postal service isn't in great shape at the UK end either at the present time at least, thanks to the postal workers' strikes which show no signs of ending any time soon. But I somehow doubt whether that will prove of any impediment to DWP's overwhelming desire to rub salt into the wounds of our perpetually frozen State Pensions by inflicting the Life Certificate nonsense on us in the most cumbersomely and onerously bureaucratic manner as is humanly possible.

 

[OJAS]

8 hours ago, Shannoblic said:

Once received you can actually do the process by telephone rather than form filling, witnessing and return.

Provided, of course, that you are prepared to be put on hold for an eternity and "serenaded" with irritating muzak until a real live human being in the International Pensions Centre picks up your call and then bombards you with a plethora of security-related questions which you must answer correctly in order to start the process!

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by OJAS

[OJAS]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:15 PM, OJAS said:

The postal service isn't in great shape at the UK end either at the present time at least, thanks to the postal workers' strikes which show no signs of ending any time soon. But I somehow doubt whether that will prove of any impediment to DWP's overwhelming desire to rub salt into the wounds of our perpetually frozen State Pensions by inflicting the Life Certificate nonsense on us in the most cumbersomely and onerously bureaucratic manner as is humanly possible.

 

And now things seem to be going from bad to worse as far as Royal Mail's overseas services are concerned at the present time, thanks to a cyber incident.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64231473

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64244121