Health in pregnancy grant refused!

[woowa]

I have had my HIP grant refused for the most STUPID reason in the world.

The letter says it's because "your midwife/health professional signed the form after the due date of your baby."

PARDON?

So I call up. "the midwife signed your form on 27th October 2010"

WHICH CLEARLY HAS NOT HAPPENED YET, so unless she has a timemachine (and if anyone did have, surely not a midwife...) she just put the wrong year down when she signed it. ISN'T THIS QUITE OBVIOUS??????

So started the appeals process. If they don't give me the money i will be writing to THE PRIME MINISTER. And the Times, and other places to shame HMRC for being RIDICULOUS.

How silly - can't you just resubmit it? Ask them to send it back, cross out the date and write the correct one in!

Oh God! As if you haven't got enough to be doing!

When we got all the child benefit stuff through for DS1, they sent 4 copies to us of every document (instead of the normal two copies - 1 for DH and for me, which in itself seems a little OTT as we are married and live in the same house...) I rang them to say, "Look, save some of our tax payers' money (though more politely) and stop sending out four copies of every document". The man replied that he couldn't action that, as there was not an option on his system for that type of problem! His only suggestion was that I write a complaint - again not enough time on my hands to be bothered. I just recycle the non-confidential bits!

whomovedmychocolate Nope. No new form. they've amended their system and will contact me to let me know IF, that's IF, they change their mind. If they don't, I have to do a a written appeal.

At which point I will demand a cheque from the minister for benefits, whoever he/she may be, with an apology for being very silly!

Must admit, i assume they won't refuse it again once they see the basic nature of the error.

No such thing as common sense for the bean counters. Ridiculous.

Have heard of this before, they wrote the mums DOB instead of the date signed/due date whatever it was, am sure it was on here I read it - mental!!

sh77- Can't the midwife resend another form...or b/c she made the mistake, write to them and admit the mistake?? I can't believe how hard the government can be on such issues as these. Really sad! I hope it works out in your favour hun.

My HIP grant was refused because the midwife put the estimated due date as 2009 instead of 2010. I phoned them and said that this is obviously an admin error as the midwife signed it in dec 09 and I haven't had the baby yet. They said they would re-submit the forms which will take 4 weeks but were basically saying it was upto the panel to decide IF I would be able to get it. I asked them to call the midwife to confirm that I haven't yet had the baby and that this is an admin error on her behalf but I got the impression that I had now lost my chance to claim.

The same thing has happened to me woowa. Utterly ridiculous, isn't it? I pointed out that the form couldn't have been signed in November 2010 as it hadn't occurred yet, and the man sighed and said that was the problem with computers reading forms, they had no common sense, and it triggered a process that had to be followed.

He said that they would write to the midwife every four weeks until she replied and that I wouldn't lose out even though the baby was likely to be born by the time it was resolved as the form had been submitted at the right time and was "in process".

So fingers crossed we all get out money...

The exact same thing happened to me woowa. They have said they sent a letter to my doctor to confirm correct date which, of course, hasn't been received. I asked to resend it and because of the 'festive period' I will have to wait till next week. I asked them to phone my GP but they won't. I told them I won't even be bloody pregnant by the time they sort this out...apparently 'they understand my frustration'

OP
That made me laugh.
Eejots they are.

The same thing happened to me - Midwife signed the form in October 2010 not 2009! I was a "bit" cross when I got my letter and spoke to a very nice man who said the computer that read the forms just generated a letter and the appeals process needed to be followed.

He submitted my form to a panel and the money arrived about 6 weeks after that.

So don't worry, you should get your money.

My midwife signed it dec 2010, as with many of you, a nice man explained on phone what had happened and he said he'd contact my midwife. I get that if they are audited, then although they have received it prior to both dates occurring, it will just appear as if they paid it out wrongly. I wholly blame my midwife and if I don't get the money then I will be knocking on her door, not the prime ministers.

Funny that some of us were told they would look into it, and some of us that they had to contact the MW first. odd. I did eventually receive, gratefully, the money, and immediately spent it on a pushchair, of course! Hope you all get yours!