UK State Pension claim – unsuccessful delivery

[OJAS]

On 2 December I posted my completed claim form + supporting docs by Thailand Post International EMS to the following address stated on the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad:

The Pension Service 11

Mail Handling Site A

Wolverhampton

WV98 1LW

United Kingdom

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I checked the EMS tracking this morning, to be informed that this address is apparently an incorrect one! I am assuming this to mean that the delivery of my application docs has proved unsuccessful. And since I (foolishly in hindsight) did not put a return address on the envelope, I can presumably kiss any chance of ever receiving any of these docs (including the original of my birth certificate) back in the post.

I have fired off an angry email to the International Pension Centre enquiring as to their reasons for now apparently tricking and deceiving overseas claimants into mailing their applications to an incorrect address. However, has anyone else experienced similar problems with having their State Pension claims delivered at the UK end in recent times, and with what consequences?

[billd766]

Back in May this year I phoned the State pension people at that address and asked for an updated pension statement to take to the UK embassy in BKK for confirmation of my pension and it was there then at the address that you gave.

Their phone number is +44 191 218 7777

[meatboy]

the address is THE PENSION SERVICE

INTERNATIONAL PENSION CENTRE

TYNVIEW PARK

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

ENGLAND

NE98 1BA

THE ADDRESS YOU SENT IT TO IS THEIR MAILING DEPT.SO THEN THEY SENT IT TO DWP.

i just had a form from that address[life certificate and it took 15days to get here.]

so give them a ring on the no.above that billd has given you.

what you need is a CAT international calling card 300bht.for about 3hrs.+ to the uk.

[OJAS]

Thanks for your replies, billd776 & meatboy. Will probably give it another couple of days to see whether EMS tracking indicates whether my application has successfully navigated the 200 miles from Wolverhampton to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, before calling them since I really have no desire to waste a considerable amount of time at my expense on a phone call back to the UK due to having to navigate my way through a complex menu maze and then being “serenaded” with the entire suite of Beethoven symphonies from start to finish, before being connected to an real live human being.

Beats me why the Newcastle address is not the one stated on the GOV.UK website. It seems to me that Wolverhampton are little more than a glorified post office and exist solely for the purpose of delaying the delivery of pension claims unnecessarily by a couple of days.

[thetefldon]

the address is THE PENSION SERVICE

INTERNATIONAL PENSION CENTRE

TYNVIEW PARK

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

ENGLAND

NE98 1BA

THE ADDRESS YOU SENT IT TO IS THEIR MAILING DEPT.SO THEN THEY SENT IT TO DWP.

i just had a form from that address[life certificate and it took 15days to get here.]

so give them a ring on the no.above that billd has given you.

what you need is a CAT international calling card 300bht.for about 3hrs.+ to the uk.

Ditto with the life certificate. Took same amount of time. Just started a topic on life certificate perhaps you can add your thoughts?

[banK]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

[meatboy]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

i have also posted on the other thread,my life cert.form goes today to the po.box address thats all it is but by

REGISTERED MAIL.so you get a receipt from the post office as proof you sent it.

the dwp.would love to stop us that are genuine from receiving our frozen pensions.

what happened to the voice recollation system that they were going to use.

[colinneil]

The address op gave international pensions is the address the same address i sent my pension claim to. i am now getting my pension no problems at all.

[OJAS]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

So, in the event of the Wolverhampton address not proving OK in my case, will my claim still eventually find its way back to me despite no return address being stated on the envelope? In addition to the standard EMS receipt, Thailand Post provided us with a slip of paper stating our address and contact phone number as well as the EMS tracking number.

Edited December 11, 2014 by OJAS

[meatboy]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

So, in the event of the Wolverhampton address not proving OK in my case, will my claim still eventually find its way back to me despite no return address being stated on the envelope? In addition to the standard EMS receipt, Thailand Post provided us with a slip of paper stating our address and contact phone number as well as the EMS tracking number.

did you send your claim for state pension 3months early as you are allowed to do.as the mailing dept.wouldnt be in such a hurry,so by the time they get it then send it on to newcastle it could be more than a month to 6 weeks before you get a reply.i wouldnt worry tooooo much about it. its not the wife is it getting itchy fingers.

[OJAS]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

So, in the event of the Wolverhampton address not proving OK in my case, will my claim still eventually find its way back to me despite no return address being stated on the envelope? In addition to the standard EMS receipt, Thailand Post provided us with a slip of paper stating our address and contact phone number as well as the EMS tracking number.

did you send your claim for state pension 3months early as you are allowed to do.as the mailing dept.wouldnt be in such a hurry,so by the time they get it then send it on to newcastle it could be more than a month to 6 weeks before you get a reply.i wouldnt worry tooooo much about it. its not the wife is it getting itchy fingers.

I sent it 4 months in advance of the due date, which is the earliest I could this according to their website.

So would I be correct in believing that, even though they won't provide the necessary EMS signature, Wolverhampton will still forward my claim to Newcastle instead of handing it back to Royal Mail?

[colinneil]

Wolverhampton is the correct address, they forward it to Newcastle. Stop worrying ok.

[lungbing]

In that case then surely Newcastle is the correct address.

You could always send it to me and I could send it to Newcastle, but that doesn't make my address correct.

Until this thread I had never heard of the Wolverhampton address and had always dealt by letter and phone with Newcastle.

[meatboy]

In that case then surely Newcastle is the correct address.

You could always send it to me and I could send it to Newcastle, but that doesn't make my address correct.

Until this thread I had never heard of the Wolverhampton address and had always dealt by letter and phone with Newcastle.

the wolverhampton address is a mail handling center,for the dwp and others i suspect.[yes it is new]

it could also be the center for pension and benefit snoopers.

[pontious]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

Edited December 12, 2014 by pontious

[OJAS]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

But what happens to the EMS/courier mail addressed to Wolverhampton? Presumably Royal Mail won't hand it over in the absence of any delivery signature? So what will Royal Mail then do with it? Will they simply bin it? Or will it eventually turn up back with the sender in Thailand? Or will it, by some miracle, still end up in Newcastle in a scanned or unscanned form?

[pontious]

I do not know the Royal Mail procedures with Wolverhampton - I expect they have a procedure to accept but no signature. I am sure your claim will get to Newcastle - but like you I applied exactly four months to go and wanted the 'belts and braces' of track and trace for my file 13.

At the end of the day you have little choice.

1. Send it to Newcastle who will sign to accept - then send it unopened to Wolverhamton so they scan it and send it back to Newcastle.

or

2. Send it to Wolverhampton IAW with there instructions. And I assume hope for the best.

With the Life Certificate saga now it is getting like the Passport Procedure - better now I know but the hassle that caused us all.

At least in one month you can ask if all is in order - and still have 3 months to go. I know you should not have to.

To avoid overexcitement on D -day when I applied they replied I was entitled to xyz - then followed another 3 letters saying they were all wrong - it is now right.

Good luck

[OJAS]

Well, I’ve just spoken to the IPC in Newcastle myself and was eventually informed that my claim would be returned to me! As already said, Wolverhampton only accept standard mail items, and items requiring delivery signature should be sent to Newcastle (at the address stated by meatboy in post #3). No question of Wolverhampton forwarding items requiring signature to Newcastle, thus meaning 950 THB for the EMS completely down the pan in my case then (not to mention the 60 THB it cost me for the phone call)! Needless to say, DWP will very soon be receiving a rocket of an email from me.

[theoldgit]

You really couldn't make this up, an utter shambles.

[meatboy]

You really couldn't make this up, an utter shambles.

time to email richard littlejohn or john gaunt i am sure they will love this.

could be a lot of state pensions stopped in 6weeks time. that will be as said in the letter 8weeks from the date of it.

lets wait to see what happens first because i have got a better story to tell if they fk.me about.

[OJAS]

As well as blasting IPC with a further extremely irate email (deliberately typed in uppercase), I have now emailed Thailand Post asking what happens to International EMS mail which cannot be delivered for any reason. Presumably this is returned to the post office from which it was sent who will then call the number stated on the International Courier slip of paper to arrange collection. However, has anyone had any experience of what actually happens in practice?

And it is possible to monitor progress in returning undeliverable International EMS mail via Thailand Post's EMS tracker? Certainly the latest entry according to a check I've just made is still the "Incorrect Address" one on 9 December.

In any case, I am really not sure whether we are wise to treat anything which the IPC tell us over the phone as the 100% gospel truth in view of the instances of conflicting and even contradictory advice referred to on both this thread and the Life Certificate one. Certainly the chap I spoke to yesterday evening struck me as rather clueless - he put me on hold for a couple of minutes (during which I was "serenaded" with several bars of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons") while he sought clarification from a colleague of his on the (alleged) fate of my unsuccessfully-delivered claim.

[Mobi]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

Will Wolverhampton accept the letter if sent by registered mail?

[pontious]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

Will Wolverhampton accept the letter if sent by registered mail?

If 'registered mail' requires a signature -no

[Mobi]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

Will Wolverhampton accept the letter if sent by registered mail?

Sorry, just read the thread more thoroughly . Seems the best way is to send it by ems or registered post to Newcastle and let them play 'pass the parcel' with it. At least that way I am sure it will get there.

This business of Wolverhampton not accepting couriered or registered letters from countries where ordinary mail is very unreliable, on such a crucial matter as our ongoing pensions is an absolute disgrace. At the very least we should be advised of this problem in their covering letter.

[pontious]

You will probably laugh.

I just spoke to IPC about the general concerns regarding the Life Certificate and OJAS's and others applications.

The answers were.

1. IPC Newcastle no longer have a post room.

2. Mail goes to Wolverhampton - they scan it and send that to Newcastle.

3. Wolverhampton will not sign for mail that arrives by courier or ( EMS).

4. This is the good bit - if you send EMS (or courier) to IPS Newcastle they will sign for it and you will see that on your Track and Trace.

BUT - They will not open the letter - they will sign for it and send it Wolverhampton who will open it and send a 'scan' back to Newcastle

I have not been drinking -yet

Will Wolverhampton accept the letter if sent by registered mail?

Sorry, just read the thread more thoroughly . Seems the best way is to send it by ems or registered post to Newcastle and let them play 'pass the parcel' with it. At least that way I am sure it will get there.

This business of Wolverhampton not accepting couriered or registered letters from countries where ordinary mail is very unreliable, on such a crucial matter as our ongoing pensions is an absolute disgrace. At the very least we should be advised of this problem in their covering letter.

Why not just fax it to them Mobi - its cheaper.

[OJAS]

As reported in post #177 on the thread at http://www.thaivisa....fe-certificate/ I have now heard back from IPC confirming the worst as regards delivery of my claim. I was informed that Wolverhampton were solely a mail warehouse and, hence, unable to sign for delivery. IPC also advised me to contact Thailand Post if I needed to establish the current whereabouts of my claim. However, our local post office subsequently informed my wife that only IPC could provide this information! In the circumstances I have decided to bide my time and, if my claim doesn't show up back here by the New Year, submit a duplicate to the Newcastle address. Grrr!!

[khastan]

I have just got off the phone with the international pension people (0044) 191 21 8777 on the subject of the Life Certificate which I received today.

I noted that the OP had a problem of "no such address" at Wolverhampton.

The lady who I spoke with said that they will not sign for any registered mail at the Wolverhampton address, and advised me to send any registered mail directly to the address in Newcastle (as per meatboy's post.).

If you send any mail to the Wolverhampton address non registered it will be ok, but who trusts that.!

Apologies I have just seen this thread. How the h--l can she come out with that statement when it states quite clearly and I quote" You must then return the completed Life Certificate and use the reply envelope sent with this form and send it back in the addressed envelope included. It strikes me the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and we all have to take the flack because of their unbelievable incompetence.

[OJAS]

It strikes me the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and we all have to take the flack because of their unbelievable incompetence.

Absolutely - makes dealing with Immigration here a walk in the park in comparison IMHO!

[meatboy]

It strikes me the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and we all have to take the flack because of their unbelievable incompetence.

Absolutely - makes dealing with Immigration here a walk in the park in comparison IMHO!

after what they put me through which lasted 4yrs.trust them,i would rather trust a million bar girls.

[Moonlover]

I have recently sent 4 registered letters to the IPC via the Wolverhampton address, 1 from Egypt and 3 from Thailand. All three were delivered successfully. The address you quoted is correct, so I do not understand why yours failed. Very strange.

They may be helpful to the OP and maybe others. You can claim your pension online. Visit: https://www.gov.uk/claim-state-pension-online

Edited January 10, 2015 by Moonlover