A few days ago I noticed that the usual weekly payments of my Old Age Pension, as it used to be called and as I still call it, were being made no longer.
I telephoned to ask why, to be told that it was because I had failed to answer letters asking for information.
I said I'd received no such letters and asked what they were about, but received no answer. Instead I was told to telephone again, and choose the option about 'change of circumstances'. There was no offer to put me through to the relevant department.
The second call connected me to someone who asked a number of routine questions, none of them involving any information the ministry would not already have, and then promised to restore payments.
When I asked why the payments had been stopped, this chap didn't say anything about unanswered letters, but said that someone must have wanted to check information, and stopping payments is a good way of persuading people to get in touch.
So it may have been a move to save the Government the cost of postage or phone calls. They wanted to check my information, though I can't think why, and wanted to avoid spending money to do so.
I am fortunate in having another pension, and being in good heal;th so that I could deal with the problem. Someone with no income except the state pension could have been in dire straits, especially if payments were stopped while they were ill in hospital.
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4 comments :
This is scandalous. Have you thought of mentioning it to the local press, or contacting your MP about it? It is disgraceful that these bureaucrats are able to take away people's pensions without explanation. I'm just glad that you are able to pay your way without your Old Age Pension - but of course, many aren't.
Good grief. As you say, you were fortunate enough to be able to get by without it for a few weeks, but many aren't. That's disgraceful.
This is dreadful, but unfortunately par for the course with the government. My son when he was out of work similarly had his payments cut off because he had not replied to some letters which he had not received, nor was there any proof that they had even been sent. Similarly a friends's son who was on jobseekers allowance was taken seriously ill and therefore unable to work. The doctor gave him details to transfer to disability allowance, but it took more than six weeks before he received his first payment. Were it not for help from his mother, also on a pension, he could not have survived during the interim.
I hope they reimbursed you for the missing weeks, not simply carrying on from when you queried it?
Is the old age pension not a statutory right? They may have committed an offence by stopping it.
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