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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Benefits for older people  →  Thread

State Pension and War Disablement Pension (Unemployablity Supp)

DM128
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Client informed Veterans UK that he wished to carry on receiving US on his WDP rather than SRP when he reached 65. The Declaration of Intention stated that he wanted to continue to receive the Unemployability Supplement and also claim any extra State Retirement Pension he may be entitled to. The document included his address and national insurance number and as instructed; a copy was sent to the Pension Service.

He did not get a response from the Pension Service and neither did he receive an invite to claim his SRP. He took it that he was not entitled to any extra SRP.

Now 4 years later he has realized that he should have been receiving £60 a week (the difference from his SRP and US payment). They have now put this in place and backdated for 12 months.

They say that just because he indicated he wanted to claim any extra SRP he may be entitled to does not warrant a claim. When questioned why they did not sent out a SRP invite, they stated they don’t have to and its on the client to make the claim. His argument that he sent the form informing them that he was to remain on US and claim any extra State Retirement Pension he may be entitled to and they did not act on this.

He is looking to appeal this decision on the basis that he stated he wanted claim any extra State Retirement Pension he may be entitled to and that should have been acted upon.

Anyone had had any issues with TPS not sending out invites or something similar?

 

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Not what you’re asking but have they increased his SP as the other three years should have been treated as a deferral and should lead to higher amount being paid?

DM128
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Thank You.

They have stated that he deferred the SRP by not making a claim. However the amount he now receives does not include any extra for the deferral.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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On the issue of whether his letter should have been treated as a claim, you need to start with reg.4(1) of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 which holds:

Making a claim for benefit
4.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (10) to (11B), every claim for benefit other than a claim for income support or jobseeker’s allowance] shall be made in writing on a form approved by the Secretary of State or the Board for the purpose of the benefit for which the claim is made, or in such other manner, being in writing, as the Secretary of State or the Board may accept as sufficient in the circumstances of any particular case.

So this allows the DWP to treat his letter as a claim but that is a discretionary decision and reg.4(7) allows them to send the claimant a claim form to complete in those circumstances. Provided the claim form is returned within the time limits, then the date of claim can be when the claimant first got in touch.

There’s a Commissioner’s Decision CP/3447/2003  which found in the claimant’s favour in relation to an adult dependency increase with SP which has similar facts on the face of it to your client’s so it’s definitely worth a shot.

DM128
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Many thanks for this Paul.