Why hasn't this been exposed in the national media???

[SeverePensionCreditDelays]

My DP has now been waiting for 4 MONTHS for their pension credit claim to come through! They have phoned up several times. First were told the application had been received but not yet opened. Phone in 10 days. Second time they must just wait. Third time they were asked to send some paperwork to DWP - that was a month ago.

After doing some online research it is apparent that processing times for pension credit applications have been backlogged for well over a year, with thousands of claimants waiting in excess of 6 months for their claims to come through.

AIBU to think this is utterly appalling? The government maintain that they are doing everything they can to help with the cost of living, yet are leaving vulnerable elderly people in limbo.

https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17986

The DWP have always had lengthy backlogs which now tends to be accepted because it’s so normal (I’m not saying it’s right) but it means it’s not a new newsworthy story.

Not as long as that, but 2 of my friends had weeks to wait for old age pension. Stupidly I thought it came through automatically!

60,000 waiting more than 6 months is most definitely newsworthy. Why is it that such severe backlog within the civil service is now deemed acceptable or normal?

It's a benefit. Benefits have always taken forever - look at the times for PIP, UC until that was at risk of completely falling over, Housing and Council Tax benefit were utter shite and full of errors for all but the simplest of claims - nobody cares when it's benefits claimants.

This is a common misconception! You have to apply and can do in advance if turning pension age to make sure it comes in immediately. However there can be some financial benefit in delaying claiming so if it’s not needed to cover everyday expenses it might be worth waiting anyway

https://www.gmlaw.org.uk/2023/03/28/gmlc-and-nawra-get-the-dwp-moving-on-pension-credit-delays/

This looks promising. It would seem that the delays are in fact unlawful.

It's not as long as pip, dp has now been waiting for 14 months for his renewal. I'm not sure that back logs are newsworthy.

But if you dare to criticise the DWP and their methods, you are a woke leftie or similar, according to the Foreign Secretary, if his response to the film 'I Daniel Blake' is anything to go by.

Given the delays in getting driving tests, passports, and indeed many government services, it is no longer news.

It's over a year to get responses from HMRC for basic queries now and 6 hours on the phone. Crackers really. Government is just falling apart in the UK.

The DLA waiting times thread is a useful tool in readjusting expectations downwards! Based on that I'm not even bothering phoning them before 17 weeks have passed from posting date.

Have you contacted the press then? Start the ball rolling min.

@Mydusa Where can I find that thread? Thanks

I'd try writing to The Guardian, they're good at getting results.

Write to your MP.

It's a bloody scandal, especially as pension credit is relatively straightforward to process, compared to PIP, which requires a medical assessment.

The waiting times for PIP seem to be reducing (I'm in welfare rights, so do a lot of PIP claims), whatever they've done to speed up PIP processing, they need to do the same to pension credit.

I'm the 1980s I managed a large unemployment benefit office, as they were then called. Each Tuesday I received a computer read out that told me how many claims we'd assessed from I day after the claim to six days post claim. I could ask the supervisors which claims were over six days or more without an assessment and why. And they would nearly always know with no further investigation which claims were delayed and why.

Waiting times for benefits are not inevitable, but it needs adequate staffing levels to achieve it. once delays have been established if the staffing levels remain the same, or are reduced, it's doesn't take a genius to work out what the resulting impact on assessing claims is going to make.

I share your pain. Tax Agent here, online services goes down most days, Friday their agent line was down for 5 hours, UTR numbers talking months etc. It’s dreadful.

I am not a pessimist but I am beginning to think this is the case. So many simple things take ages now. It worries me. Delays seem to be the norm with anything official, I suspect they hope people will give up hence the problem goes away.

They are taking a long time generally but if you tell them you are in financial hardship they do seem to speed things up. I have ( as a benefits advisor) found more problems with ESA recently, they are just crap. I think they just want claimants to wait so long for issues to be resolved that they will think it's just easier to switch to Uc anyway.

You mean covered in the media like here?

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1703018/pension-credit-claim-delay-eligibility-DWP-payment-UK

I hadn’t heard about this tbf. Are they paying the backlog when they eventually start paying out?

I always think it's worth a complaint or asking CAB or similar to help you draft a letter. I had an issue with one of my clients a few weeks ago, everything from start to finish has been a disaster, they had one of the couples age down wrong so threw out her disability claim, they thought the other of the couple was claiming a private pension when they weren't. It had been almost four months and they hadn't even looked at the disability form we had sent in as they had the person down as needing to claim a different disability benefit instead. After numerous phone calls, I wrote a very strongly worded complaint letter and lo and behold they had a backpayment of awarded benefit in their bank account less than 10 days later. It may have been nothing to do with the complaint letter but I always think it's worth a try as well as others have said, involve your MP.

Yes it's always backdated, i've known people recently receive thousands in back pay because they've waited months and also can be backdated up to 3 months before the date you apply , so some people potentially get several months worth of backpay.

It's not called the 'Old Age Pension' any more. It's the State Pension. You have to claim it, and you can do that from 4 months before the date you want the pension to start. If the payment starts late because of delay by DWP the pension is backdated to start from the start date you put in the claim.

It's because all the civil servants are NOT working from home