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

My daughter applied for universal credit straight out of uni last year. It was in her account within six days. They are capable if they’re motivated of sorting these things out very quickly.

@BattingDown

they get slagged off in the press and by the gullible on Mumsnet while being shouted at on the phone by stressed people they can’t help.

Thank you for that. Exactly right.

That would just be the advance payment that was issued that quickly. A UC claim takes one month and seven days.

I’m sure Martin Lewis has been talking about this, and that because he has suggested people apply as lots who are entitled haven't, this has increased the time.
maybe have a look at his social media pages as I know he has spoken with government about it.

I feel very ignorant, I've been a pensioner since I was sixty, now 73 and had never heard of pension credit. I have since looked it up and it seems terribly complicated.

As it is a 'top up' and your husband is already receiving state pension, it probably isn't considered to be a priority. If he does qualify it will be nice when he receives it back dated.

A family member works in the civil service she regularly moves between pensions, CMS and general claims depending on which service is falling over . They aren't recruiting in the CC so it is a difficult scenario - don't ask about the.computer systems

I applied for PIP in 2020 and am still waiting for a hearing let along a payment. Most people in the support groups I'm in get thousands of pounds (someone recently got £8000 in backdated payments) because it takes so long. I expected it to be honest. I also lost a breast to cancer 2 years ago and have been told it may be a 4 year wait. Shit.

Is it a tribunal hearing you are waiting for as I can't believe anyone would wait that long for initial assessment and decision.

That’s only newsworthy if it’s a change, if it’s always been like that then, whilst it’s not good it’s not newsworthy.

It is because so many staff WFH, and not being as productive.

4 months?

I waited 19 months for a PIP review/change of circumstance. Then a further 8 weeks for them to decide, pay up, and a further 6 weeks for them to cough up the backpay they owed me.

Not enough staff, too many working from home on systems that fall over, I suspect (from the experiences of talking to people I've had personally) poor training on the benefits themselves and on the systems they're using is also an issue.

And then for PIP/DLA - they are actively trying to reduce the number of successful claims. They say this isn't the case but theres been plenty of evidence that it is.

It's mainly because the DWP have closed so many offices down & got rid of staff. My mum recently applied for Attendance Allowance, she got that through in 8 weeks, I don't know if that is because they think pensioners may die waiting.

No it’s not. It’s because of understaffing and recruitment problems caused by working conditions and crap pay. Why would you want that when you can earn more working in a supermarket ?

@Rosscameasdoody I think you will find that a high percentage are not in the office.
The same with DVLA, Many physical forms with signatures need processing in an office. First the envelope has to be opened and all forms kept together.
Much better to have staff together.

Slightly different... But I overpaid my student loan as my work didn't get the stop notice in time (I overpaid last month too)... An "exception" has been placed on my account and has to be "manually removed" so I've got to call back in 5 working days to ask for the refund again... The guy on the phone could not give a difinitive or plausible reason as to why the exception could occur and enables them to be unable to refund MY MONEY back to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

These chronic delays have seriously warped our expectations.

Three months is considered quick ?!?!😧

In almost any other line of business, three weeks would be considered unacceptably slow to receive a reply to an enquiry.
Three days is more usual for private enterprise.

Yet we put up with it from the government. We are like the proverbial frogs in hot water, so used to this appalling situation that it does not even register at voting time.

Well to be honest 3 months isn't bad for PIP, because it involves a from being sent back and allowing a month for claimants to send that back, then they need an assessment and then a report needs to be written then it needs to go to a decision make. They may need to chase medical evidence from GP's if claimants don't send in medical evidence themselves ( many have nothing to send ), then GP's or consultants can take ages to provide requested eveidence. It's not like for example ESA where someone makes a claim online, NI contributions are checked and initial payments are in someone's bank account within a couple of weeks.

Yeah, I'm waiting for an appeal hearing. It was rejected first then we did a mandatory reconsideration I think which was also rejected but on silly grounds (they made up stuff that blatantly wasn't true).