MikeandDow Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 We can but hope that sometime in the future they will move into the 21st century and adopt a more up to date method of proving if a person is alive or dead. I see they are asking you for a tracking number and all the transit details despite the fact you have given them all these details already in a previous email. That is very worrying development. If the cannot find something sent by a secure method like EMS just how do you prove you have sent your Life Certificate back. For the life of me I still cannot understand why they have changed the rules and now no longer allow faxed completed Life Certificates. Previously in my case I had confirmation that they had received and actioned my certificate the day after sending the fax. So much easier but above all it puts the recipient of the pension at ease that they will be no blip in his or her future pension payments.. This time Life Certificate was received at Wolverhampton on the 12th July and I am still waiting for an email telling me it has been received at Newcastle. If I was you I would be sending them an E-mail including Tracking report and number if you sent by EMS and would include scanned copy of cert and I think this is more than enough to demonstrate that you have complied with the procedures and its up to them to prove you have not sent it, you can not be held responsible for mistakes in there internal mail procedures, if they require me to send another on I will be asking the for money for postal. Link to comment
khastan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Good idea I will do that thank's for the advice. Has a matter of interest has anybody who has sent back a completed Life Certificate by whatever method recently to Wolverhampton had confirmation that it has been received by the relevant department at Newcastle? Link to comment
khastan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Good idea I will do that thank's for the advice. Has a matter of interest has anybody who has sent back a completed Life Certificate by whatever method recently to Wolverhampton had confirmation that it has been received by the relevant department at Newcastle? Following a fellow members advice have now sent them the following email and now await their reply. Dear Sir or Madam Thank you for your email. Further to this my Life Certificate, duly completed was posted back to you on the 4th July. It was posted by registered post from Nong Khai under tracking number RR073003232TH on the 4th July at 12.16am Thai time. It was confirmed received at your Wolverhampton mail handling site on the morning of the 12th July, please see below for full tracking details. Can you please confirm that you have received my Life Certificate, it has been cleared and my pension will now be paid as normal. I am also attaching a scanned copy of the relevant completed Life Certificate received by you on the 12th July. Yours sincerely Mr July 4, 2016 12:16:23 NONG KHAI Accept July 4, 2016 16:16:09 NONG KHAI Items Into Container July 4, 2016 16:35:47 NONG KHAI Dispatch July 4, 2016 16:38:17 NONG KHAI Dispatch July 4, 2016 19:56:17 UDON THANI MAIL CENTER Items Into Container July 4, 2016 19:56:46 UDON THANI MAIL CENTER Dispatch July 5, 2016 13:15:06 SUVARNABHUMI MAIL CENTRE Container Received July 5, 2016 14:02:38 SUVARNABHUMI MAIL CENTRE Departure From Outward OE July 11, 2016 00:33:00 Great Britain (GBLALA) Accept July 12, 2016 09:00-11:59 Great Britain (WV 1) Delivery Status Successful Recipient Name Link to comment
soap Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Good idea I will do that thank's for the advice. Has a matter of interest has anybody who has sent back a completed Life Certificate by whatever method recently to Wolverhampton had confirmation that it has been received by the relevant department at Newcastle? I sent the form off on the 6 July by air mail (29฿) then sent a email to explain why there was no stamp Received this email back 3 days ago Thank you for your email to Newcastle Pension Centre (International Group) dated 6 July 2016 I have checked our mail handling site and your life certificate arrived with them on the 13th July 2016, this will be forwarded onto the relevant department to action. Yours Sincerely Link to comment
khastan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Success! Have just received the following email in reply to mine sent a short time ago. "Mr Thank you for your recent email. I can confirm your Life Certificate has been received in the department and processed. Your account has been updated." It looks like we can all save money and use Thai registered post instead of EMS to send the Life Certificate back. I sincerely hope all members have the same satisfactory result with their returned Life Certificates. 1 Link to comment
sometime Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Good idea I will do that thank's for the advice. Has a matter of interest has anybody who has sent back a completed Life Certificate by whatever method recently to Wolverhampton had confirmation that it has been received by the relevant department at Newcastle? Posted mine on 11th July, normal airmail 19 Baht. Received email last night Thank you for your email dated 11th July 2016 I have checked your records and I can confirm that the Life Certificate was received and processed by our offices on 19th July 2016 and no further action is required. Link to comment
sprq Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Just make it up and fill in yourself, they are not going to check, they just want to get the form back to see you are not dead To avoid any probs the very least should be to use someone with a UK or Commonwealth passport and/or is on the electoral register. The tongue-in-cheek suggestion above is asking for problems if taken seriously. Why "tongue-in-cheek"? I'd call it very probably correct. Do you think anyone at the pension service is going to see if Thai bank clerk X or Thai civil servant Y actually exists? Can you imagine the amount of resources that would take? Not even the British Embassy, with local staff, could easily check on these names. No, making it up, carefully and convincingly, will certainly work. Link to comment
MikeandDow Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Just make it up and fill in yourself, they are not going to check, they just want to get the form back to see you are not dead To avoid any probs the very least should be to use someone with a UK or Commonwealth passport and/or is on the electoral register. The tongue-in-cheek suggestion above is asking for problems if taken seriously. Why "tongue-in-cheek"? I'd call it very probably correct. Do you think anyone at the pension service is going to see if Thai bank clerk X or Thai civil servant Y actually exists? Can you imagine the amount of resources that would take? Not even the British Embassy, with local staff, could easily check on these names. No, making it up, carefully and convincingly, will certainly work. I would 100% agree with you the pension service would NOT check, Christ they can not trace mail in there offices. they just want to see a signature, At least you know the pension service will not move into the 21st century Paperless office !!!!!!! Link to comment
evadgib Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 (edited) Whether they're able to check a Thai's credentials is doubtful, but rest assured they have been known to check on Brit countersignatories. I have no idea what the consequences could be for 'self-certifying' but at the very least I'd expect 6-8 months of non payment while they scrutinized whoever tried such folly and was caught. Any that can't afford to wait that long might think twice before 'filling their boots!' Edited July 22, 2016 by evadgib Link to comment
Kwasaki Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Good idea I will do that thank's for the advice. Has a matter of interest has anybody who has sent back a completed Life Certificate by whatever method recently to Wolverhampton had confirmation that it has been received by the relevant department at Newcastle? Haven't read all though but to answer your question it seems to me when l have sent mail to IPC before sending it by EMS because the mail requires a signature of receipt this seems to delay the letter getting to the office to deal with. On receiving my Life Certificate l sent it back in there envelope provided by airmail and the Thai PO gives a receipt. Because there letter with Life Certificate took just over 3 weeks for me to receive it I waited 3 weeks and telephoned them explaining bla bla etc. after ID check they looked and confirmed they had received it. Emailing takes too long ring em. Link to comment
ThaiLife Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 A little information which I am sure you can help with. How long after claiming your state pension did you start to get this life certificate form? I am of the opinion that would be 5 years after the claiming date is that correct? Second question which some of you might know,. Is the letter requiring your attention sent at your birthday or at the anniversary of you claiming your pension? I received my first ever UK pension payment in May of this year , and received my first pension life certificate this month . TL Just an update A few days ago I received my second ever life certificate , the letter was dated ... June the 12th 2016 I completed the form and posted it back , but it says this on the letter ......... We must receive your reply within 8 weeks from the date of this form I decided to telephone the international pension centre ... 009 - 44 - 191 21 87777 , and tell them my completed form may be a little late arriving with them. The lady who I spoke to said that the 8 weeks had now been updated to 16 weeks , but they had not yet updated their forms. ( sorry if this info has all ready been posted ) TL 2 Link to comment
MikeandDow Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 see my posts above for more info just received this today Mr Doyle In response to your email dated 22 July unfortunately we are yet to receive your Life Certificate, However after checking the tracking number and have seen it was logged as arrived on July 4th then I will clear your certificate based on the tracking number. So all action is now complete and your payments will continue as normal, I can only apologise that this wasn’t sorted sooner If you require any further information don’t hesitate in getting in contact with us again Regards Christopher Hall my response Thank you for your E-mail, I must point out that I find this absolutely incredible in the 21st century that you can not locate a letter that was sent by courier (EMS) and proven that YOU have signed and received it, you must have very poor mail receive procedures, I am just wondering what would have happened IF I did not send by EMS (pension cut off) have you guys not heard of secure servers, I sent you e-mails each day to get a response to see what was happening BUT no responses' I think this is very very bad service. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TRACKING NUMBER I find that this is bullshit service oh by the waty to get a reply I set up an auto reply each day so I flooded them with e-mails Link to comment
sprq Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 On 22/07/2016 at 4:12 PM, sprq said: Why "tongue-in-cheek"? I'd call it very probably correct. Do you think anyone at the pension service is going to see if Thai bank clerk X or Thai civil servant Y actually exists? Can you imagine the amount of resources that would take? Not even the British Embassy, with local staff, could easily check on these names. No, making it up, carefully and convincingly, will certainly work. I totally concur with that. In fact, I don't think the British Embassy would even accept the task of checking on the veracity of the existence of Thai civil servant Y or pharmacist Z. The Pension Service is never going to check on any witnesses supplied - it's just far too difficult. That said, make your reply look convincing. 1 Link to comment
thai3 Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Right, I made these forms up for years and never any come back, people worry too much, it's just BS paper work. 1 Link to comment
Kwasaki Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 On 8/5/2016 at 5:53 PM, MikeandDow said: WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TRACKING NUMBER I find that this is bullshit service oh by the waty to get a reply I set up an auto reply each day so I flooded them with e-mails ID 340 my posts explains what l have found, emails are a waste of time, telephone them they much prefer that and they are always helpful. The life form in their return envelope just sent back by airmail as they request you do has worked fine for me. You still get a receipt from the Thai post office. Link to comment
OJAS Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 (edited) Bumping this thread since we appear to be coming to the time of year when some of us may find further requests from DWP for witnessed life certificates dropping into our mailboxes. Has anyone received a new request yet? Edited June 27, 2017 by OJAS Link to comment
OJAS Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Bumping this thread once again because there have just been a couple of reports in the "UK Pensions" pinned thread of fresh life certificates being requested by DWP. Looks like it might be "that time" once again for us State Pensioners living in LOS! 1 Link to comment
theoldgit Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 A mate of mine has just received one.Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Link to comment
OJAS Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 And I, too, received one shortly after bumping this thread! Link to comment
khastan Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 I received one this morning also. Link to comment
theoldgit Posted August 24, 2018 Share Posted August 24, 2018 A mate of mine has just received one.I went to Siam Paragon yesterday to witness my mates form, as a retired Civil Servant I’m able to do so.When I got back home there was one waiting for me in my mailbox. Talk about sods laws, so it’s back to Paragon later today for him to sign mine, they were both dated 5 August. Link to comment
dabhand Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Received mine today. Also dated 5th August. Only started receiving the pension about five months back, so that is a bit sharp. Link to comment
OJAS Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 On 8/24/2018 at 7:02 AM, theoldgit said: I went to Siam Paragon yesterday to witness my mates form, as a retired Civil Servant I’m able to do so. When I got back home there was one waiting for me in my mailbox. Talk about sods laws, so it’s back to Paragon later today for him to sign mine, they were both dated 5 August. Got our local police captain to do the necessary yesterday. He was more than willing, but his grasp of English is minimal. So explaining to him what he needed to do was a bit of a challenge - though I finally got there in the end with my wife's assistance! But I really do believe that DWP could and should be more proactive in assisting State Pensioners in countries where English is not the official language by providing (e.g.) dual language versions of the Witness Declaration section - or, even better, explanatory guidance notes in the local language which State Pensioners could then simply hand to their non-English-speaking witnessers. Will be making this suggestion in a covering letter to DWP, even though I strongly suspect that it will fall on deaf ears. 1 Link to comment
JAS21 Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Got mine a couple of days ago ... have a friend up the road who is a retired Air Marshall ... got him to sign it ... wonder it he will be accepted ... Link to comment
cooked Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I also got my first English "Life certificate" on Friday. I get pensions from two countries and three pensions authorities, so think yourselves lucky. So: bank official: stares of indignant incredulity that I would waste their time (once they understand) No Solicitor: only know one and he doesn't speak English, two hours away Doctor: next one I know that speaks English lives two hours away Local mayor: apparently doesn't have a stamp Police: don't speak English, don't do Minister of religion: priests don't have stamps etc I am going to wander around the local Family Court this afternoon to see if I can find someone willing to do the stuff. At least with my Swiss pensions I can go to the Embassy, 6 hours drive but they do then send it off for me. Link to comment
billd766 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I got 2 last week and I will try the local hospital and if that doesn't work it will be back to the amphur police station where it costs me some cold beers. Link to comment
Expattaff1308 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Got mine today as did a mate, I've only been receiving the Pension since April ? This may help (from the website) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/463191/Life_Certificate_Witness_Options.pdf Edited August 27, 2018 by Expattaff1308 Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now