A Warning Pension Stopped

[khastan]

In June I received a Life Certificate to fill in which was completed and sent back to DWP Newcastle. In response to an email in July enquiring about receipt of said Life Certificate I received from DWP Newcastle the following copied and pasted below. 

 

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.

 

Kind Regards

Julie Duncan | Pensions Officer | Department of Work and Pensions | Newcastle Pension Centre | International Group | Room TC101, Tyneview Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1BA | 

Imagine my horror then when this morning I received a letter from them informing me that they had stopped my pension, because according to them they have not received said Life Certificate despite them sending an email saying they had.

 

This is a very worrying development. I have to ask now how can you be assured that pensions will be paid has normal after sending a Life Certificate back. In the past the verification of my accepted Life Certificates and future pension payments was always confirmed by email. It would seem however that this is not the case now. What more can you do to assure your future pensions. The Life Certificate was sent by registered mail and tracked all they way to Wolverhampton and confirmed has accepted by email by DWP Newcastle.

 

I have sent them an email and will update when when I get a reply.

 

 

>

 

 

 

 

 

[theoldgit]

Have you called them?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[khastan]

Cannot get through have been trying for the last two hours

[prakhonchai nick]

They may have stopped paying for the reasons they state, but they will make up any missed payments once they sort themselves out.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

With interest??

 

Mac

[chiang mai]

Registered letter via EMS costs under 100 baht and is useful for returning the proof of life forms. In your case I suspect a series of overlapping communications is the root cause, I wouldn't worry too much, I've known UK government letters take three weeks to get here, from the date on the letter .

[meatboy]

8 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Registered letter via EMS costs under 100 baht and is useful for returning the proof of life forms. In your case I suspect a series of overlapping communications is the root cause, I wouldn't worry too much, I've known UK government letters take three weeks to get here, from the date on the letter .

it took the dwp.2yrs.to sort out me being charged with fraud,despite all the proof of signed letters by their department that it was their mistake.

it took a threatning letter from a uk.solicitor to finally admit it was their doing.

so i wouldnt rely on them one bit.

[JustinCredible]

I have NEVER received the Life Certificate that Newcastle sent me in JUNE!!!  It was only as a result of reading on TV that many Brits had received one that I sent them an email enquiry.

 

They replied with an electronic copy of the certificate insisting that I returned the hard copy.

 

I sent it using EMS (TB 1300) and tracked it through to delivery. I then received another email stating it had been received and processed (same as OP).

 

Very worrying to read this post.

[Farang99]

The last Life certificate I received took so long in the mail that it was too late to return by post or EMS, so I scanned and sent it by email, with a note saying "hard copy to follow by post" and  that seems to have satisfied them.

[freebyrd]

1 hour ago, Thanyaburi Mac said:

With interest??

 

Mac

 

In this modern world? Not a snowball's chance in Hell.

[ChrisKC]

Some time last year I received in the post a letter that included the Life Certificate for returning to them. In the covering letter it stated I could send it back to them or call a special number. Knowing what the post is like I decided to call them and within ten minutes of answering a few questions that were easy, everything was well.

My Government pension has continued to be paid without interruption.

[gwynt]

What is a "Life certificate" anyway

 

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

Registered letter via EMS costs under 100 baht and is useful for returning the proof of life forms. In your case I suspect a series of overlapping communications is the root cause, I wouldn't worry too much, I've known UK government letters take three weeks to get here, from the date on the letter .

Under 100baht within Thailand, maybe. But EMS to the UK costs more like 1000baht.

[little mary sunshine]

Clerical error they will reinstate you with your

back pay in 90 days....

[Surasak]

9 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Under 100baht within Thailand, maybe. But EMS to the UK costs more like 1000baht.

฿970 at the local post office I use. Almost £23 for a standard registered letter, is in my opinion a ripoff

[evadgib]

Registered post does same as EMS for less than THB 100.

 

HTH

 

(EMS & RP aren't the same thing but from a users perspective there's little difference other than £)

[bark]

I guess you should find a job, to support yourself.

[dereklev]

I would send an email to Julie Duncan with a scanned copy of the letter saying your pension has been stopped.

Shouldn't take her long to sort it out!!

I always send letters Registered post takes 10-14 days but costs less than 100 THB.

 

[evadgib]

Mine reach UK in 5-8 days.

 

Unfortunately correspondence in the other direction from HMG takes more than a month as per an example posted in the main thread last night.

 

21st Century an' all that

[doctormann]

3 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Registered post does same for less than THB 100!

 

Registered post to UK can be pretty slow.  The last two registered items that I have sent from Thailand to UK have taken in excess of two weeks to reach their destination.

 

Things get to the Post Office at Suvarnabhumi pretty quickly, clear customs and then seem to sit in container until it has been filled and only then does it make it onto the plane.  Delivery within the UK usually takes 2-3 days, once the item has arrived there.

 

Using EMS seems to avoid the delay but is outrageously expensive.  

 

Registered items can be tracked within Thailand  - http://track.thailandpost.com/tracking/default.aspx - which works for registered items as well as for EMS.

 

Once in the UK the item can be tracked on the Post Office site - http://www.postoffice.co.uk/track-trace

 

DM

[colinneil]

1 hour ago, gwynt said:

What is a "Life certificate" anyway

 

 

Life certificate is just someone in a position of authority stating you are still alive.

I have  had 2  now, both returned by standard mail no problems, pension still being paid ontime.

[evadgib]

9 minutes ago, doctormann said:

 

Registered post to UK can be pretty slow.  The last two registered items that I have sent from Thailand to UK have taken in excess of two weeks to reach their destination.

 

Things get to the Post Office at Suvarnabhumi pretty quickly, clear customs and then seem to sit in container until it has been filled and only then does it make it onto the plane.  Delivery within the UK usually takes 2-3 days, once the item has arrived there.

 

Using EMS seems to avoid the delay but is outrageously expensive.  

 

Registered items can be tracked within Thailand  - http://track.thailandpost.com/tracking/default.aspx - which works for registered items as well as for EMS.

 

Once in the UK the item can be tracked on the Post Office site - http://www.postoffice.co.uk/track-trace

 

DM

Send via registered post then email a scanned copy along with track and trace details confirming its on the way.

[wigan]

Only dumb me , but what's EMS????T!

[Mobi]

Not sure if this has been covered.

 

My pension has been stopped as I didn't receive the Life Certificate request.

 

Two years ago, there was a problem with the address in Wolverhampton not accepting registered mail. It caused no end of problems for many people. I assume this has now been resolved, but I am a bit worried because the papers I received by email yesterday, still use the same address for sending my certificate.

 

Last time it was resolved by sending the document by fax, but they no longer accept faxes.

 

Does anyone know for sure if this has been resolved, or have they sent me the wrong mailing address?

 

the one they sent is:

The Pension Service 11 
Mail Handling Site A 
Wolverhampton 
WV98 1LW 
United Kingdom 

 

Thanks

[OJAS]

39 minutes ago, Mobi said:

Not sure if this has been covered.

 

My pension has been stopped as I didn't receive the Life Certificate request.

 

Two years ago, there was a problem with the address in Wolverhampton not accepting registered mail. It caused no end of problems for many people. I assume this has now been resolved, but I am a bit worried because the papers I received by email yesterday, still use the same address for sending my certificate.

 

Last time it was resolved by sending the document by fax, but they no longer accept faxes.

 

Does anyone know for sure if this has been resolved, or have they sent me the wrong mailing address?

 

the one they sent is:

The Pension Service 11 
Mail Handling Site A 
Wolverhampton 
WV98 1LW 
United Kingdom 

 

 

Thanks

 

I can confirm that Wolverhampton do now accept mail deliveries which need to be signed for as in the case of my witnessed Life Certificate a few months ago.

 

Unless you have already set the wheels in motion to get your certificate witnessed, may I suggest that you scan the blank form first, so as (hopefully) to minimise the risk of being caught out again by having your pension stopped in similar circumstances? That is what I have done with the intention of providing the DWP with witnessed certificates on an annual basis regardless of whether or not I receive a formal request for one.

 

EDIT - upon re-reading your posting, I see that you received the blank Life Certificate electronically by email. Might therefore be worth storing this away somewhere safe on your computer for future possible use!

[chickenslegs]

39 minutes ago, wigan said:

Only dumb me , but what's EMS????T!

 

Express Mail Service

[Bangkok Barry]

I believe they now give you 90 days from the date of their letter to return the form (Life Certificate). It used to be only a month which potentially caused problems. Nice they realised that.

 

As for the IP, you obviously kept the email from them saying that they had received the certificate, as you've copied it to us. Can't you simply copy back to them as well? Or is that too logical.

[Mobi]

43 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I believe they now give you 90 days from the date of their letter to return the form (Life Certificate). It used to be only a month which potentially caused problems. Nice they realised that.

 

As for the IP, you obviously kept the email from them saying that they had received the certificate, as you've copied it to us. Can't you simply copy back to them as well? Or is that too logical.

 

 

They sent me an email yesterday, after I called them,  with the forms and addresses attached, as I hadn't received the originals which were sent by mail .

 

Not sure that I understand your point. What is an IP?

[doctormann]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Send via registered post then email a scanned copy along with track and trace details confirming its on the way.

 

Yes, I agree that this may work for the Life Certificate but my comment was of a general nature about registered mail to the UK and not specific to UK Pensions.

 

Not every company will accept email as a secure way of receiving information - I had an instance not long ago where this was the case. This was also about a Life Certificate but a different one and the company concerned was extremely inflexible about this.  They also seemed to have no concept of just how long mail from UK to Thailand, and return, can take.  I had no option but to use EMS - or DHL, I suppose, in order to get the document back to them before the deadline that they had imposed.

 

The point that I an trying to make is that registered post is sometimes not appropriate  Yes, the chances of eventual delivery are good but, if time is short, you may have no option other than to use EMS or a courier service.

 

DM

 

[Sooo Upto Me]

2 hours ago, bark said:

I guess you should find a job, to support yourself.

 

Do u ever give any helpful info on this forum Mr Grumpy?