Returned payment to DWP because I'm dead!

[mrsfoot]

Ok, this is bizarre and I would love some pointers. Bear with me.

 

Dad passed away in April. Mum changed the joint account over to single name, keeping s/c and acc number the same.

 

June: Mum was awarded care component of DLA. This is due to kidney failure and being on dialysis. The amount was £400+. The DLA claim is purely in Mums name. The bank decided to return the money to the DLA. When doing her banking I noticed it and rang DLA, after confirming who Mum was, they told me the bank had returned it to them as mum had died! They re-arranged the payment.

 

I called Barclays on Mums behalf. They were confused as to why it had been returned. They confirmed it was only in Mums name, confirmed the payment had mums NI number and told me it was a banking error. A manager then called me back. He said this was a unique problem, and he apologised. He said there was no marker on the account (which is normally placed on there for a death) and that there would be no issues. He asked if we wanted to make it a formal complaint. Thankfully Mum saw the funny side and said no, an error is an error.

 

July: Today, on doing her banking, I see the DWP has repaid the money......and yet again Barclays has returned it. I called DLA who confirmed that it had been returned due to Mums death! After chatting with Mum she has asked for the payment to be re-sent.

 

I called Barclays. Mistakenly, I had lost the notes from the precious call, so I dialled the regular number. I was told by the "telephony advisor" that mum "shouldn't be concerned as there is money in the bank". At that point I told him I was not having a conversation with him and he was to put me through to the dept I spoke to last week. After some fussing, he did so.

 

Spoke to a woman, who was very apologetic, but couldn't understand why the payment had been returned. She has "escalated" it and someone will call me over the next 48 hours, or write to mum within 5 working days.

 

Now my point is:

It makes no difference how much my mum has in the bank, it is her money they have returned and had no permission to do so.

Once is an error, but twice, informing the DWP that my Mum had died, is a disgrace.

 

Mum is understandably upset. After losing Dad three months ago, she is struggling herself, so does not need this upset.

 

If its "unique" why has it happened twice in the same account?

I have made endless calls to DLA DWP Barclays, costing time and money.

 

I have told the bank she wants compensation for the upset. Here is where I am unsure of the path to take.

 

Do I leave it with the dept and let them deal with it

Do I write a letter and make a formal complaint

Is there anyone else I should make a complaint to

What would be an acceptable amount to ask for

 

I know my cagger buddies will help me, so any and all comments gratefully accepted x

Edited July 9, 2012 by citizenB
spacing

[citizenB]

You should make this a Formal Complaint as soon as possible.

 

You need to head your letter as such, else it will get popped in the "to do sometime - never pile".

 

As you say, once is an error - twice is an utter disgrace.

 

Refer to your previous calls to them as well.

 

I will flag your thread for other site team members to contribute as well.

 

As for how much compensation.. you might want to have a look at the FOS website to see if they have any similar situations in their case history file.

 

However, I would think a minimum of £500.00 as a starting point.. as this is what they will be charged by the FOS if you feel the need to escalate the complaint higher.

[mrsfoot]

Thanks CitizenB, you are a star!

[citizenB]

**blush**

 

thank you. Please let us know how you get on.

[ErikaPNP]

Just to add what happens in DLA is when a person is reported as dead, in case you are worried.

 

As far as I know, when it is reported that the claimant has died, the claim is suspended until they receive a verifiable date of death such as a death certificate or a BD8 (England/Wales) or 3344SI (Scotland) notification of death form is received. The claim is not usually closed/archived until they receive verification of the date of death, it's just suspended so that no further payment is made. I don't know however what they would do in circumstances where a verified date was not forthcoming - perhaps then they may close the claim, after a certain period has passed?

 

So she will should be able to get her money, if you query it in good time which I know isn't the point - the point is that she is being labelled deceased when she isn't and that is very upsetting, particularly so soon after her husband's death. I just wanted to give you a little reassurance that her money should be ok.

 

I hope your mum gets something out of this, it's horrible particularly as it's occurred more than once. I'd demand an explanation of how it happened and what they will do to ensure that it doesn't happen again. If they couldn't find a reason the first time by checking the usual common errors, they should have investigated it more thouroughly to get to the bottom of it. Fair enough DLA usually only suspends payment - but I'm assuming Barclays don't know that and what if they had closed the claim? It's serious enough to report someone as dead when they are not on two occasions but I would highlight to them that this could potentially cause some serious problems in regard to accessing her funds if DLA closed her claim - which as I've said shouldn't happen but may happen if not queried in good time, presumably.

[mrsfoot]

Will do CitizenB x

 

Erika: Thanks for your input. I will contact the DLA again tomorrow or ensure the claim has not been cancelled. Although the first time it happened I actually had Mum call them herself. They then released the payment again. When I spoke to them today, they knew about the previous error and said she would call the payment dept to ensure the payment was sent again. I will check later this week (It took 3 days last time).

 

You are right though, it's not the money. My concern is how many other times has this happened and the person has not realised. Imagine someone getting a back pay of PC or DLA, who has a lump sum in the bank and doesn't do online banking. If theirs were returned, would they realise? The elderly and vulnerable could seriously lose out on this "unique error". I am waiting for their reply. I do intend on taking it to the press or Age Concern as I don't believe for one minute it has only happened to Mum. Anyone who has read my previous cases will know I am like a dog with a bone lol

[ErikaPNP]

Hope your mum gets the response she deserves, and i don't blame you for being angry - I'd be fuming if it were a relative of mine too.

 

You go get 'em!

[mrsfoot]

Update: Barclays has investigated and found they didnt mark the payments as "deceased" when returning. After another call to DWP they say they cannot prove who marked it as such. So, no one takes responsibility, but at least Mum is now classed as living and has received the back pay...which has stayed in her account!

 

No compensation paid, as no one is taking responsibility.

[ErikaPNP]

They both have a responsibility and in my view, they have not nearly fulfilled it.

 

Barlcays should at the very least take responsibility for returning the payment in the first place. Who did it, why was it done, what are they doing to be sure that it won't happen again?

 

DLA won't be able to mark anyone as deceased without verifiable evidence such as a death certificate or a notification of death from the Registrar, in which case the claim would be suspended. Though they can mark it as unverified (which doesn't suspend a claim) if they are informed that a claimant has died. It shouldn't matter that they cannot prove who marked it on the system that she was dead - the DWP are supposed to take responsibility as an organisation, and they must be able to demonstrate for what reason they were in a record when questioned about it. If they are questioned, they will have to produce evidence which showed they accessed the account for legitimate government business - presumably a death cert, telephone record or something similar. They can be checked and questioned if their is a complaint/query that gives rise to the question of why a particular action was taken. They can also be checked at random selection by the computer system - I can't recall the name of this check - but someone who works in DWP would likely know.

 

Oh - and they can prove who marked the claimant as dead. All they need to do is a full audit trail and it will produce a result showing who was in the record, when they were in the record and what action they took. As a governmental computer system, every key stroke is logged. I would send a letter of complaint to DWP stating that Barclays insist they did not mark her as dead and you would like a full investigation carried out including an audit trail so that they can establish what caused them to mark her as a deceased person. Presumably Barclays, being holders of sensitive personal data will have a similar system available (audit trail) to determine by whom the payment was returned and why.

 

If you want to leave it then I understand. Personally, I would want to know all of the inns and outs - I'd want to be satisfied that they had located the source of the problem and from that had set procedures in place to ensure it did not happen again.

 

If sending a written complaint, your mum will need to sign it unless you are her legal appointee/appointee for benefit purposes or guardianship. If you do not hold any, she will need to sign any letters but she should include a signed statement that she authorises you to deal with this matter on her behalf (if that's what she wants) - this will prevent you coming up against a brick wall if you are having trouble getting them to deal with you directly.

[citizenB]

Update: Barclays has investigated and found they didnt mark the payments as "deceased" when returning. After another call to DWP they say they cannot prove who marked it as such. So, no one takes responsibility, but at least Mum is now classed as living and has received the back pay...which has stayed in her account!

 

No compensation paid, as no one is taking responsibility.

 

 

So if they didnt mark the payment "deceased" - what other reason do they have for returning not one payment, but two ??