The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of poor communication again as thousands of pensioners are being urged to check their payments
Thousands of Brits have been urged to check their pension payments after a blunder by the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) left an ex-British Army soldier £3,000 a year out of pocket. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) issued the warning following the DWP’s failure to inform 82 year old Adrian Furnival about crucial changes to his state pension.
It’s feared that thousands of other pensioners may have been similarly affected, with those in comparable situations to the former soldier being advised to verify if they’ve lost out. The ombudsman highlighted this case as further proof – following the furore over pension alterations for WASPI women – of the DWP’s poor communication skills.
The issue for Mr Furnival and his wife, Sheila, aged 67, arose from their move to Brittany in 1994 and the DWP’s failure to provide them with necessary information. Besides his state pension, Mr Furnival was receiving Adult Dependency Increase (ADI) payments, a supplement given to households when the main earner reached state pension age but their partner did not.
The rules around ADI payments were altered in the 2007 Pension Act, with no new claims for the supplement accepted from 2010 and all payments ceasing by April 6, 2020. Those claiming the extra money were informed about the change in 2010. However, Mr Furnival wasn’t notified until eight years later, in 2018, when he received an annual statement from the DWP informing him his payments would decrease by £250 a month. He s.
The pensioner expressed his shock, saying: “It came as a shock to me. They sent the leaflet to us every year, so they could have told us at any point from 2010 onwards. The key issue for me is why I wasn’t told that my income would be going down by approximately £70 a week sooner. We only have our pensions as income, so we were worried about what we were going to do to make ends meet.”
The 82 year old pointed out that if he had been informed at the same time as others, he would have had eight more years to prepare for the shortfall. He continued: “That would have given us enough time to do something, my wife or I could have tried to get a job. By 2018 we had no way of replacing that income. This could have been handled much better, and I knew that it could well affect other people in the same situation. When I first queried it with DWP, they took nine months to reply, and it felt like we just went round and round. Which is why I then raised it with my MP and brought my complaint to the Ombudsman.”
Following an investigation, the Ombudsman found that the DWP failed to properly communicate the changes and did not respond to his initial queries and complaints promptly.
The Ombudsman recommended that DWP apologise and pay Adrian £675 for the injustice he suffered. The number of people living abroad and entitled to ADI is unknown, but in May 2019, a year before ADI ended, the DWP told Parliament that 10,817 people were still getting paid ADI each month. The Ombudsman recommended that the benefits department also provide a “comparable remedy” to anyone who approaches them in a similar situation.
Going forward, the Ombudsman said government bodies needed to make sure their communication with the public is always “fair, clear, and consistent”.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said: “Poor communication from Government departments damages trust in public services. DWP has a history of failing to communicate pension policy changes clearly and failing to learn from its mistakes. In Adrian’s case, this meant that, without the right information, he lost the opportunity to prepare for his retirement. It also caused him unnecessary financial worry. Anyone who believes they have had a similar experience to Adrian should contact DWP. DWP has complied with our recommendations and will provide a comparable remedy to anyone who approaches them with a similar situation.”
