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Mixed age couple in receipt of pension age HB as of May 2019 being denied PC
Marie - if you want to set it all out in an email to me (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and include the claimant’s details, I will escalate it via the stakeholder forum - include all your attempts to escalate
Thanks Daphne, email sent
To provide an update on this case and potentially offer a resolution route to others in this position - I sent the Pension Minister, Laura Trott, an email and in less than 24hrs I received an email and telephone call from a manager within DWP Retirement Services . Within a further 48 hrs , the cl received a call from DWP to confirm that their PC application had been approved and they were awarded over £17k in back payment.
I am still working with the DWP to ensure the telephone application process is changed to ensure other cls are not wrongly advised to claim UC and also to build awareness of the issue that has been in existence since May 2019 so that other cls can come forward and receive compensation for being wrongly advised to claim UC rather than PC.
I put in a complaint about a mixed age couple being told by PC staff they must claim UC; this advice lost them their pension age HB. They can’t get UC and so have lost entitlement altogether.
The complaint was sent in November last year.
No reply.
I’m pleased to report that DWP has now engaged with this complaint and admitted they gave wrong advice.
They have asked if they send all the details to the LA, can the lost pensioner HB be restored?
It’s my understanding that it can’t; the UC application (unsuccessful) ended the pension age HB and the protection they enjoyed under the relevant ‘saving provision’ - and they can’t re-claim pension age HB.
Is my gloomy opinion correct?
There is some hope they will now get on to PC/pensioner HB as there may be a carer premium going begging (spotted by DWP -, credit where it is due), so that will limit the period of loss, and define how much compensation we may be looking at.
I have had the following response from DWP via the stakeholder forum -
Mixed Aged Couple rules were introduced on the 14/05/2019 and with any change to entitlement, there are a number of exceptions and protections in place. One of these protection rules relate to the customer being in receipt of Pensioner Housing Benefit. This makes the process of decision making complex as there is no definitive way of identifying when a customer is in receipt of Pensioner HB, and a number of identifying factors are used to make an informed decision. On occasion, one of the defining factors can be missed as was the case with this customer and as a result the decision was incorrect and the customer misadvised.
We have in place a number of Subject Matter Experts within our quality team, who support and advise the whole Pension Credit community. These SME’s can be contacted for advise when the decision making is unclear, for help with interpreting Standard Working Instructions and guidance.
Following on from this customer’s experience, we plan to provide a Specialist Point of Contact in each site to become the expert in MAC rules. They will then be contacted to support any decision making on past or present, to ensure that the correct outcome is achieved in all MAC cases.
To address the point raised about the difficulties in escalating this case. We now have a dedicated team responsible for dealing with escalated complaints. We have also recently increased our capacity on frontline telephony, making it easier for customers and supporting organisations to speak to us directly.
I have had the following response from DWP via the stakeholder forum -
Mixed Aged Couple rules were introduced on the 14/05/2019 and with any change to entitlement, there are a number of exceptions and protections in place. One of these protection rules relate to the customer being in receipt of Pensioner Housing Benefit. This makes the process of decision making complex as there is no definitive way of identifying when a customer is in receipt of Pensioner HB, and a number of identifying factors are used to make an informed decision. On occasion, one of the defining factors can be missed as was the case with this customer and as a result the decision was incorrect and the customer misadvised.
We have in place a number of Subject Matter Experts within our quality team, who support and advise the whole Pension Credit community. These SME’s can be contacted for advise when the decision making is unclear, for help with interpreting Standard Working Instructions and guidance.
Following on from this customer’s experience, we plan to provide a Specialist Point of Contact in each site to become the expert in MAC rules. They will then be contacted to support any decision making on past or present, to ensure that the correct outcome is achieved in all MAC cases.
To address the point raised about the difficulties in escalating this case. We now have a dedicated team responsible for dealing with escalated complaints. We have also recently increased our capacity on frontline telephony, making it easier for customers and supporting organisations to speak to us directly.
Thanks Daphne.
It’s great, now all people have to do is manage to get through the gatekeeping that happens on the initial phone call to claim in order to be able to access this wonderful world of support.
there is no definitive way of identifying when a customer is in receipt of Pensioner HB
There is: if someone is entitled to HB and neither s/he nor his/her partner is getting a working age DWP means tested benefit, that means it is pensioner HB. If the claimant is the older partner, that person may claim Pension Credit.
There is one exception to this which is so rare that there might not be any cases: when HB would have terminated under the MAC rules before January 2021, or an HB claim would have been rejected under those rules before January 2021, but the SDP gateway allowed HB to remain in payment or be claimed, and the younger partner is not getting ESA(ir) etc because the couple’s income is too high even with an SDP. Article 8 of the No 31 Order treats such couples as if they are working age in order to prevent HB from terminating. There might not have been any cases like that before the SDP gateway closed, I’d be surprised if it was enough to generate a stat.
Subject to that one extremely rare and possibly non-existent exception, the method described above is indeed definitive.
I have had the following response from DWP via the stakeholder forum -
Mixed Aged Couple rules were introduced on the 14/05/2019 and with any change to entitlement, there are a number of exceptions and protections in place. One of these protection rules relate to the customer being in receipt of Pensioner Housing Benefit. This makes the process of decision making complex as there is no definitive way of identifying when a customer is in receipt of Pensioner HB, and a number of identifying factors are used to make an informed decision. On occasion, one of the defining factors can be missed as was the case with this customer and as a result the decision was incorrect and the customer misadvised.
We have in place a number of Subject Matter Experts within our quality team, who support and advise the whole Pension Credit community. These SME’s can be contacted for advise when the decision making is unclear, for help with interpreting Standard Working Instructions and guidance.
Following on from this customer’s experience, we plan to provide a Specialist Point of Contact in each site to become the expert in MAC rules. They will then be contacted to support any decision making on past or present, to ensure that the correct outcome is achieved in all MAC cases.
To address the point raised about the difficulties in escalating this case. We now have a dedicated team responsible for dealing with escalated complaints. We have also recently increased our capacity on frontline telephony, making it easier for customers and supporting organisations to speak to us directly.
Many thanks for sharing Daphne.
On a practical level, how can advisers contact the SMEs directly or escalate the complaint so that the Specialist Point of Contact becomes involved? The complaint I raised re MAC was only escalated after I contacted the Pensions Minister, surely the DWP are not suggesting that route should be used as the norm?