UK pensions-life certificate

[meatboy]

A fax or scan/emailed copy including the track and trace details confirming an original is on it's way has always worked in my dealings with Govt Depts.

Re "Why can't they put that in a letter?"; Their letters are auto generated and are aimed at people living within the UK or perhaps the EU. The system isn't geared for claimants further afield but thankfully common sense usually applies once contact has been made by phone.

IMO the way ahead would be to utilize Skype etc to everyone's advantage by interviewing claimants online/at home using image enhancing technology already in use @HMPO etc.

Your suggestion of a Skype interview is a excellent one and would save them millions of pounds in paperwork.

yes that would be a good idea,but the problem would be,most of them working there dont speak english.

[Ricardo]

Don't you Brits have a bank account,or just like to make something easy difficult

IME many expat Brits have closed their UK bank-accounts, and moved their banking offshore, for tax reasons.

Unlike some other countries, non-resident UK-citizens can avoid paying UK Income-tax on income arising outside the UK, there's also the need to weaken if possible one's UK-Domicile in preparation for Inheritance-Tax (after one's death). Full UK banking-arrangements might be taken to indicate an ongoing link with the country ?

A cynic (like me) might also suggest that sometimes the UK-government makes it harder to claim payments which are due, in order to exasperate those entitled to them, so that we give-up and stop trying to obtain the moneys due to us, thus saving the government serious sums in these straightened times. After all, they're running a massive funding-deficit, and need to keep MPs' duck-houses refurbished !

Alternatively they could just be totally-incompetent, and enjoy doing things the hard way, recent changes in the ease with which we renew our passports might certainly support that viewpoint !

[meatboy]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

[Jip99]

Don't you Brits have a bank account,or just like to make something easy difficult

A stupid response.

For many Brits the BEST way to receive their state pension is direct to their Thai bank account in Baht - at a fair rate of exchange, no fees.

Having a UK bank account does not negate the need for a Life Certificate.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Jip99

[Jip99]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

[Mobi]

I phoned Newcastle .They said schooldirector not aceptable.

so the details they send you is BS.i have it in front of me,WHO CAN SIGN THE LIFE CERTIFICATE?.

nobody related to you,or live at the same address.

should be a professional person or a person of good standing in the community.

so the school director should sue for slander.calling him a person of not good standing.

you phoned newcastle at what time? your post is timed 12.24 that is 24minutes past 5 morning uk.

I too have the form in front of me and I concur what you say about suitable person. Given a teachers standing in local community in Thailand I would say they qualify.

We will see anyway because I just got my certificate completed by a teacher with school stamp added. Posted EMS at 950 Baht so I can track and trace.

Job done, thanks for help in various posts.

May I ask if you sent the letter direct to Newcastle or to the address on the reply envelope in Wolverhampton?

[Mobi]

Does anyone have the correct email address as there is no email add shown on the letter.

Thanks

[thetefldon]

I phoned Newcastle .They said schooldirector not aceptable.

so the details they send you is BS.i have it in front of me,WHO CAN SIGN THE LIFE CERTIFICATE?.

nobody related to you,or live at the same address.

should be a professional person or a person of good standing in the community.

so the school director should sue for slander.calling him a person of not good standing.

you phoned newcastle at what time? your post is timed 12.24 that is 24minutes past 5 morning uk.

I too have the form in front of me and I concur what you say about suitable person. Given a teachers standing in local community in Thailand I would say they qualify.

We will see anyway because I just got my certificate completed by a teacher with school stamp added. Posted EMS at 950 Baht so I can track and trace.

Job done, thanks for help in various posts.

May I ask if you sent the letter direct to Newcastle or to the address on the reply envelope in Wolverhampton?

I sent it as directed in the DWP instructions in the envelope addressed to Wolverhampton. Haven't checked track & trace yet as I figured it would take a few days

[meatboy]

i too sent to the address on the envelope provided in wolverhampton.so if they refuse to except it and it comes back to me

LOOK OUT

for 4yrs they fkd.me about so this time the tide will turn.

[Mobi]

Found the email address.

I'm torn between sending it by registered mail to Newcastle or ems -ing or registering it to my daughter in the UK and ask her to send it on to Wolverhampton by ordinary post.

Crazy aint it???

PS I also plan to send it by fax and also by scan / email...

Can't be too sure

Edited December 14, 2014 by Mobi

[meatboy]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

so do you think its acceptable for an important letter that says it comes from newcastle arrives on our door step 2weeks after its been sent,and must be sent back to a drop of point which has nothing to do with the DWP.and will not sign for, so we have no proof of us sending,then who is it returned too?frigging holland or its got to try and find its way back to us.

in the meantime the 8weeks which they DWP has given us before they stop our pension has passed and if the letter containing our life certificate cant be found at our expence we have to wait for another form and pay again to have it witnessed.so you say its not interesting,DO YOU WORK FOR THE UK.GOVERMENT.?

[khastan]

Found the email address.

I'm torn between sending it by registered mail to Newcastle or ems -ing or registering it to my daughter in the UK and ask her to send it on to Wolverhampton by ordinary post.

Crazy aint it???

PS I also plan to send it by fax and also by scan / email...

Can't be too sure

Can you please post it.

Forgive me for copying your post pontious but it may be helpful to Mobi.

Once I get mine signed that is what I intend to do.

"That is correct - if you insist on sending the letter ( signed for ) you have to send it to IPC Newcastle who will sign for it, but not open it and will send it to Wolverhampton who will open it . scan it, and send the 'scanned copy' back to IPC Newcastle!

I was advised by IPC - just fax it to us - 'no original on the way' That seems the cheapest most simple solution."

[Jip99]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

so do you think its acceptable for an important letter that says it comes from newcastle arrives on our door step 2weeks after its been sent,and must be sent back to a drop of point which has nothing to do with the DWP.and will not sign for, so we have no proof of us sending,then who is it returned too?frigging holland or its got to try and find its way back to us.

in the meantime the 8weeks which they DWP has given us before they stop our pension has passed and if the letter containing our life certificate cant be found at our expence we have to wait for another form and pay again to have it witnessed.so you say its not interesting,DO YOU WORK FOR THE UK.GOVERMENT.?

It is absolutely fine meatboy - don't be a drama queen.

A perfectly reasonable commercial practice - and easy to complete the task within 8 weeks.

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

[khastan]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

Well I would certainly call it interesting given the fact that a previous letter sent to me in Thailand by HMRC using this same outsourced post box ended up in New Zealand ! The guy in New Zealand was kind enough to post it on to me otherwise I would have known nothing about it.

Edited December 14, 2014 by khastan

[Mobi]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

[khastan]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

Could not agree more with everything you have both said. However we may be getting our right to vote back and then the 650 part timers might start to take more notice of us all. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/11068438/Tories-pledge-to-give-vote-back-to-all-expats.html

[khastan]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

My opinion of this is that in it's present form it is a underhanded attempt to deprive people of something that is rightfully theirs to receive and what they have paid each week/month all their working lives for.

Edited December 14, 2014 by khastan

[Jip99]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

Well I would certainly call it interesting given the fact that a previous letter sent to me in Thailand by HMRC using this same outsourced post box ended up in New Zealand ! The guy in New Zealand was kind enough to post it on to me otherwise I would have known nothing about it.

That is certainly something different.

[Jip99]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

My opinion of this is that in it's present form it is a underhanded attempt to deprive people of something that is rightfully theirs to receive and what they have paid each week/month all their working lives for.

If they wanted to do that they would give you 4 weeks to reply!!

Jesus, you must look for reds under the bed. No one is trying to deny anyone a pension they are entitled - do you have any evidence of that.... I don't think so.

The Pension Service (amongst 1,000's of private pension providers) are prudently looking after their funds by trying to ensure they don't continue to pay pensions to dead people, Please don't tell me that is wrong.

[meatboy]

i dont know if anyone has looked at the return address on the envelope that the life certificate was sent in if undelivered.

this is the actual wording. PRIORITAIRE

IF UNDELIVERED,PLEASE RETURN TO;

P.O.BOX 7000

3109AA SCHIEDAM

well this is very interesting to say the least,the address is in frigging holland.

so where the fk.did these life certificates come from.

I would say not interesting at all. It is simply an outsourced post box service in Europe.

Many large UK corporates use this service.

so do you think its acceptable for an important letter that says it comes from newcastle arrives on our door step 2weeks after its been sent,and must be sent back to a drop of point which has nothing to do with the DWP.and will not sign for, so we have no proof of us sending,then who is it returned too?frigging holland or its got to try and find its way back to us.

in the meantime the 8weeks which they DWP has given us before they stop our pension has passed and if the letter containing our life certificate cant be found at our expence we have to wait for another form and pay again to have it witnessed.so you say its not interesting,DO YOU WORK FOR THE UK.GOVERMENT.?

It is absolutely fine meatboy - don't be a drama queen.

A perfectly reasonable commercial practice - and easy to complete the task within 8 weeks.

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

your taking the piss mate,if you read previous posts where i had posted about dealings with the DWP TOOK 4YRS,

and only when i had a solicitors letter sent to them they admitted it was their fault.

now you seem to say everything will be ok.well what about all of us that sent the forms back last week by registered mail now find out they will not be opened.how long will it take for them to know who is who so they can be sent back to us.

so before saying we have plenty of time that statement is what we in thailand call BS.and while we are discussing dates how is my letter dated sunday the 23-11-2014.and just another for short measure,as we are threatned with having our pension STOPPED by WHO because there is no signiture.and here's another one,if it wasnt for orjas who started the thread in this forum UK.PENSION UNSUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED we wouldnt have found out for another month or two. so there.

T.I.T. TAFFY IN THAILAND

[meatboy]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

My opinion of this is that in it's present form it is a underhanded attempt to deprive people of something that is rightfully theirs to receive and what they have paid each week/month all their working lives for.

If they wanted to do that they would give you 4 weeks to reply!!

Jesus, you must look for reds under the bed. No one is trying to deny anyone a pension they are entitled - do you have any evidence of that.... I don't think so.

The Pension Service (amongst 1,000's of private pension providers) are prudently looking after their funds by trying to ensure they don't continue to pay pensions to dead people, Please don't tell me that is wrong.

never a true-er word spoken by jip99.

THE PENSION SERVICE ARE PRUDENTLY LOOKING AFTER PENSIONS SO THAT THEY DONT PAY DEAD PEOPLE.

BUT THEY CONTINUE TO PAY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT BRITISH AND HAVE NEVER PAID 1PENNY INTO THE POT

[khastan]

Hi meatboy, I completely share your feelings on this one, and am glad that at least one person has the energy to post the right level of of rant.

The whole thing is utterly stupid and bureaucratic and bares little relation to good working practice. I am quite sure that Thailand is not the only country that has a dubious, unreliable post service to contend with.

I don't know how the UK resident pensioners are treated, but the letter we all received, (mine took 3 weeks to arrive), is specifically written to pensioners living abroad from the dept dealing with overseas pensioners. To arrange for all replies to be sent to a collection point that cannot acknowledge receipt, and even have couriered replies returned to sender is sheer madness and worthy of a scene in 'Yes Minister'.

This is no trivial matter - this about an income that many of us rely upon to stay alive.

We should all probably rant to our M.P's - but we haven't got one as we live abroad - that is why we are treated so badly - we are all non-persons in the eyes of British officialdom.....

My opinion of this is that in it's present form it is a underhanded attempt to deprive people of something that is rightfully theirs to receive and what they have paid each week/month all their working lives for.

If they wanted to do that they would give you 4 weeks to reply!!

Jesus, you must look for reds under the bed. No one is trying to deny anyone a pension they are entitled - do you have any evidence of that.... I don't think so.

The Pension Service (amongst 1,000's of private pension providers) are prudently looking after their funds by trying to ensure they don't continue to pay pensions to dead people, Please don't tell me that is wrong.

Not even they could get way with that

No I do not look under the bed has you put it. You do not need evidence considering Osborne has to find billions more of cuts and what better way to do it than to try to screw the pensioners overseas who have no voice.

No it is not wrong that they check they are not paying to dead people but there are better and far more efficient ways to go about that. My private pension provider checks my signature with the faxed proof they have sent with the original on record. job done.

[OJAS]

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

The fly in the ointment IMHO is not the Thai post service, but rather the lack of any mention of the Newcastle address on the GOV.UK website as the one to which we should send our claims, completed life certificates, etc if their delivery is to be signed for at the UK end - which AFAIK is the only method of obtaining confirmation of successful delivery which does not require a lengthy and expensive phone call back to the UK.

So, rather than blame Thailand Post (who, in my view, provide a far superior mail service to the one provided by those incompetent cretins Royal Mail back in the UK), I think that our ire would be far more appropriately directed at DWP who have clearly adopted a policy of tricking, deceiving and hoodwinking us into submitting claims and completed life certificates to a completely fictitious Wolverhampton address if their delivery is to be signed for.

And, in the case of life certificates, this appears to have been compounded by a further Machiavellian decision on DWP's part to only issue life certificate requests to overseas State Pension recipients in the run-up to Christmas, in the supremely confident knowledge that, thanks to completed certificates subsequently languishing in Royal Mail sorting offices for weeks on end until staff there have sobered up sufficiently from their annual prolonged seasonal booze-ups in nearby pubs, the 8-week deadline will inevitably then be missed, thus providing the perfect excuse for the plug on our pension payments to be pulled with zeal and gusto barely a nanosecond after the expiry of this deadline.

[Jip99]

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

The fly in the ointment IMHO is not the Thai post service, but rather the lack of any mention of the Newcastle address on the GOV.UK website as the one to which we should send our claims, completed life certificates, etc if their delivery is to be signed for at the UK end - which AFAIK is the only method of obtaining confirmation of successful delivery which does not require a lengthy and expensive phone call back to the UK.

So, rather than blame Thailand Post (who, in my view, provide a far superior mail service to the one provided by those incompetent cretins Royal Mail back in the UK), I think that our ire would be far more appropriately directed at DWP who have clearly adopted a policy of tricking, deceiving and hoodwinking us into submitting claims and completed life certificates to a completely fictitious Wolverhampton address if their delivery is to be signed for.

And, in the case of life certificates, this appears to have been compounded by a further Machiavellian decision on DWP's part to only issue life certificate requests to overseas State Pension recipients in the run-up to Christmas, in the supremely confident knowledge that, thanks to completed certificates subsequently languishing in Royal Mail sorting offices for weeks on end until staff there have sobered up sufficiently from their annual prolonged seasonal booze-ups in nearby pubs, the 8-week deadline will inevitably then be missed, thus providing the perfect excuse for the plug on our pension payments to be pulled with zeal and gusto barely a nanosecond after the expiry of this deadline.

The 8 week deadline will not be missed unless the recipient in Thailand is stupid.

However, I do fully agree that that the Xmas period should have been by-passed or 2 weeks added for the possible impact of that. I also fully accept that most of us posting on this thread could advise DWP how to significantly improve their system.

That said, this is not something to get your knickers in a twist, it is nothing like the UK passport renewal debacle and certainly not worth wasting time informing the press. Claiming that an 8 week deadline would be missed is admitting personal incompetence rather than a genuine criticism of DWP. Even if the wonderful Thai postal service took 7 weeks to deliver the post, you still have the ability to phone DWP and request an extension.

[khastan]

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

The fly in the ointment IMHO is not the Thai post service, but rather the lack of any mention of the Newcastle address on the GOV.UK website as the one to which we should send our claims, completed life certificates, etc if their delivery is to be signed for at the UK end - which AFAIK is the only method of obtaining confirmation of successful delivery which does not require a lengthy and expensive phone call back to the UK.

So, rather than blame Thailand Post (who, in my view, provide a far superior mail service to the one provided by those incompetent cretins Royal Mail back in the UK), I think that our ire would be far more appropriately directed at DWP who have clearly adopted a policy of tricking, deceiving and hoodwinking us into submitting claims and completed life certificates to a completely fictitious Wolverhampton address if their delivery is to be signed for.

And, in the case of life certificates, this appears to have been compounded by a further Machiavellian decision on DWP's part to only issue life certificate requests to overseas State Pension recipients in the run-up to Christmas, in the supremely confident knowledge that, thanks to completed certificates subsequently languishing in Royal Mail sorting offices for weeks on end until staff there have sobered up sufficiently from their annual prolonged seasonal booze-ups in nearby pubs, the 8-week deadline will inevitably then be missed, thus providing the perfect excuse for the plug on our pension payments to be pulled with zeal and gusto barely a nanosecond after the expiry of this deadline.

The 8 week deadline will not be missed unless the recipient in Thailand is stupid.

However, I do fully agree that that the Xmas period should have been by-passed or 2 weeks added for the possible impact of that. I also fully accept that most of us posting on this thread could advise DWP how to significantly improve their system.

That said, this is not something to get your knickers in a twist, it is nothing like the UK passport renewal debacle and certainly not worth wasting time informing the press. Claiming that an 8 week deadline would be missed is admitting personal incompetence rather than a genuine criticism of DWP. Even if the wonderful Thai postal service took 7 weeks to deliver the post, you still have the ability to phone DWP and request an extension.

How can you be so sure that the extension that you have requested will be granted by the DWP at Newcastle even if you are told so, you have no proof of this, only their word and I doubt if they will put it in writing. My experience this year with Newcastle leaves a great deal to be desired. I had to return to the UK due to my fathers death and my mothers serious illness. I telephoned Newcastle and explained the circumstances and asked them to up rate my pension whilst I was in the UK.. They told me that's no problem and told me the new rate I would be getting each week. They then took all details where I was staying including telephone number and asked me if I knew when I would be returning to Thailand to which they were told I have no idea at present. I was told that's okay we will send out a form and the day before you go back to Thailand fill it in and send it back until then we will continue to pay your pension at the new rate. A few days later I received said form and filed it away. So what do think happened when I checked my bank account, my pension had been paid at the rate I get in Thailand. When I rung them up they told me they had paid my pension at that rate because the thought I had now returned to Thailand has I had not informed them when I was returning. They denied that they had sent out a form and even if they had it had been a mistake, even though I had it in my hand. To cut a very long story short it took a total of three phone calls and several weeks later to get my pension paid at the correct rate for the UK. Incidentally I was in the UK for nearly two months. I am sorry but after this experience I have little faith in what I am told by anyone at Newcastle.

ps Sorry for the edits

Edited December 15, 2014 by khastan

[teacherofwoe]

I've been reading through this thread and I have seen that some people have got their Thai bank manager to witness the signature. Someone added a link to the government website regarding life certificate: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad/how-to-claim

You are then referred to another link which shows who can sign a passport photo. They state that the criteria is the same as witnessing the life certificate. Here is the link: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

I see two problems with using a Thai bank manager or any other type professional.

Who can sign forms and photos Personal relationship

The countersignatory must:

• have known the person applying for at least 2 years
• be able to identify the person applying, eg they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows them professionally)

Where you’re applying from

If you’re applying in the UK, the countersignatory must:

• live in the UK
• have a current British or Irish passport

If you’re applying from outside the UK, they must have a current British, Irish or other EU, US or Commonwealth passport. But your application will be processed more quickly if they have a British or Irish passport.

When they hold a US, Commonwealth or other EU (not British or Irish) passport, they must provide a colour photocopy of the page with their photograph on it. This must be included with the countersigned application.

Now, have I missed something or am I right in saying Thai officials cannot be a witness?

[khastan]

I've been reading through this thread and I have seen that some people have got their Thai bank manager to witness the signature. Someone added a link to the government website regarding life certificate: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad/how-to-claim

You are then referred to another link which shows who can sign a passport photo. They state that the criteria is the same as witnessing the life certificate. Here is the link: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

I see two problems with using a Thai bank manager or any other type professional.

Who can sign forms and photos Personal relationship

The countersignatory must:

• have known the person applying for at least 2 years
• be able to identify the person applying, eg they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows them professionally)

Where you’re applying from

If you’re applying in the UK, the countersignatory must:

• live in the UK
• have a current British or Irish passport

If you’re applying from outside the UK, they must have a current British, Irish or other EU, US or Commonwealth passport. But your application will be processed more quickly if they have a British or Irish passport.

When they hold a US, Commonwealth or other EU (not British or Irish) passport, they must provide a colour photocopy of the page with their photograph on it. This must be included with the countersigned application.

Now, have I missed something or am I right in saying Thai officials cannot be a witness?

Sorry I have absolutely no idea at all. All I can tell you is when I asked how can I get a form written in English witnessed and signed in a predominately Thai area he would not answer the question. Instead all he said when pressed a number of times to answer the question was the form needs signing witnessing and returning to us over and over again.

[Jip99]

I've been reading through this thread and I have seen that some people have got their Thai bank manager to witness the signature. Someone added a link to the government website regarding life certificate: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad/how-to-claim

You are then referred to another link which shows who can sign a passport photo. They state that the criteria is the same as witnessing the life certificate. Here is the link: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

I see two problems with using a Thai bank manager or any other type professional.

Who can sign forms and photos Personal relationship

The countersignatory must:

• have known the person applying for at least 2 years
• be able to identify the person applying, eg they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows them professionally)

Where you’re applying from

If you’re applying in the UK, the countersignatory must:

• live in the UK
• have a current British or Irish passport

If you’re applying from outside the UK, they must have a current British, Irish or other EU, US or Commonwealth passport. But your application will be processed more quickly if they have a British or Irish passport.

When they hold a US, Commonwealth or other EU (not British or Irish) passport, they must provide a colour photocopy of the page with their photograph on it. This must be included with the countersigned application.

Now, have I missed something or am I right in saying Thai officials cannot be a witness?

Thai officials CAN witness - the DWP letter states who can undertake the tasks. The fact that there is slight conflict with 2013 policy note on the website makes no difference. I know many who have used Thai bank managers/police as witnesses - the problem is that it is a bit hit and miss as some will say they cannot read English and will not sign. Others see it as an opportunity to extract a fee.

... my personal opinion is that these signatures are worth 'Jack' as they cannot be verified by DWP. When I witness, I provide my UK passport number and Thai phone number.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Jip99

[khastan]

The fly in the ointment is the Thai postal service that gov.uk can do little about - EXCEPT....... allow scanned, or faxed, certificates to be sent back to a central point. This is what many private company pension trustees now allow.

Two of the five certificates that I have signed this weekend were sent out on 23rd November. Even with that horrendous postal timescale, it is now only 3 weeks gone. We know that airmail usually takes 2 weeks to get back to the UK - that leaves 3 weeks to combat Xmas delays etc.

I doubt that there is any mechanism to be automatically advised of receipt (I will stand corrected on that one) so I might be inclined to phone, with 2 weeks still to go, to see if the certificate has been received. If it hasn't, they will give you more time and send out another form.

The fly in the ointment IMHO is not the Thai post service, but rather the lack of any mention of the Newcastle address on the GOV.UK website as the one to which we should send our claims, completed life certificates, etc if their delivery is to be signed for at the UK end - which AFAIK is the only method of obtaining confirmation of successful delivery which does not require a lengthy and expensive phone call back to the UK.

So, rather than blame Thailand Post (who, in my view, provide a far superior mail service to the one provided by those incompetent cretins Royal Mail back in the UK), I think that our ire would be far more appropriately directed at DWP who have clearly adopted a policy of tricking, deceiving and hoodwinking us into submitting claims and completed life certificates to a completely fictitious Wolverhampton address if their delivery is to be signed for.

And, in the case of life certificates, this appears to have been compounded by a further Machiavellian decision on DWP's part to only issue life certificate requests to overseas State Pension recipients in the run-up to Christmas, in the supremely confident knowledge that, thanks to completed certificates subsequently languishing in Royal Mail sorting offices for weeks on end until staff there have sobered up sufficiently from their annual prolonged seasonal booze-ups in nearby pubs, the 8-week deadline will inevitably then be missed, thus providing the perfect excuse for the plug on our pension payments to be pulled with zeal and gusto barely a nanosecond after the expiry of this deadline.

I agree wholeheartedly with all you say in particular the last paragraph. This is something I had not even thought about until you mentioned it but typical and just the sort of dirty trick this government would get up to.

[Jip99]

How can you be so sure that the extension that you have requested will be granted by the DWP at Newcastle even if you are told so, you have no proof of this, only their word and I doubt if they will put it in writing. My experience this year with Newcastle leaves a great deal to be desired. I had to return to the UK due to my fathers death and my mothers serious illness. I telephoned Newcastle and explained the circumstances and asked them to up rate my pension whilst I was in the UK.. They told me that's no problem and told me the new rate I would be getting each week. They then took all details where I was staying including telephone number and asked me if I knew when I would be returning to Thailand to which they were told I have no idea at present. I was told that's okay we will send out a form and the day before you go back to Thailand fill it in and send it back until then we will continue to pay your pension at the new rate. A few days later I received said form and filed it away. So what do think happened when I checked my bank account, my pension had been paid at the rate I get in Thailand. When I rung them up they told me they had paid my pension at that rate because the thought I had now returned to Thailand has I had not informed them when I was returning. They denied that they had sent out a form and even if they had it had been a mistake, even though I had it in my hand. To cut a very long story short it took a total of three phone calls and several weeks later to get my pension paid at the correct rate for the UK. Incidentally I was in the UK for nearly two months. I am sorry but after this experience I have little faith in what I am told by anyone at Newcastle.

ps Sorry for the edits

khastan, you must be very unlucky. You are literally the only person I know who has spoken negatively about Newcastle.

I accept that dodgy information has been given out over the phone regarding life certificates but most people have told me how helpful Newcastle have been whenever they have had cause to call. So, yes, I see no problem getting an extension should you request one.