Blank A42 form?

[mafiaduck]

Hi,

 

My father is claiming ESA and PIP. He gets two pensions, both of which provide him with money that is topped up by the sea to make a livable wage.

 

He sends payment slips to the DWP, they decide he's fine, and is entitled to £8 a week from them. Which is good, because with his ESA active, he gets housing and council tax benefit. So he always makes sure he updates then about changes.

 

He has about £8k in savings, which is due to drop a lot as he has bought a funeral plan, will, and LPA agreements and is waiting for cheques to clear (solicitor recommended cheques, as the LPA clears much quicker with one for some reason) he's had this for 1 month, prior to that he was below 6k.

 

Today he got his usual letter in March, asking for an update on his pension... I guess because he will get a state pension in May, they want to make sure its all still the same too.

 

Attached to his recent request though  is an A42 form. But it's blank, and we don't know if it's normal.

 

It asks for his details, as I would expect, but the back where it says 'what we need' no boxes are ticked, where it says they would like to contact, the box is empty.

 

He's not sure what he's meant to be signing here, and what is going on, or what info to give as he has shown his pension and bank statements already on the other form

 

Does he tick applicable boxes, and give the details of his bank.... or should this have been filled already, and a blank form was sent by mistake (this particular form doesn't have his full name on either, it's addressed just to his first name)

 

Thanks for any help

[dx100uk]

why not ring and ask...always the best way.

[mafiaduck]

1 hour ago, dx100uk said:

why not ring and ask...always the best way.

.

Hoping for a quicker answer, mainly. Everytime i call dwp I'm on hold for 2+ hours, and I don't always have that time available when visiting my dad, and he can't call himself due to anxiety. I'll try tomorrow though

[dx100uk]

Or use his online hmrc.gov portal to the dwp. Your dad will have a journal page the re to ask things.

[mafiaduck]

18 hours ago, dx100uk said:

Or use his online hmrc.gov portal to the dwp. Your dad will have a journal page the re to ask things.

That's no use, unfortunately. He's on ESA, and the government portal DWP section is only accessible for a Universal Credit claim.

 

It's a bit crap really, can't find any information anywhere about the form can't ask them a question online, so need to call.

 

I'm writing this whilst on hold, and have been on hold since 9.20 so that's nearly 2 hours.

 

I need to leave in 15minutes, so unless they answer soon I wont even have time to ask and will need to call monday

[unclebulgaria67]

claimant can go to local Job Centre if this is the only way to speak to someone from DWP

[mafiaduck]

6 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

claimant can go to local Job Centre if this is the only way to speak to someone from DWP

 

This is hard though due to the aforementioned anxiety issue. He has huge panic attacks if he leaves his home, not to mention our local job centre isn't exactly easy to get an appointment at, and they won't speak to me at all.

 

This is part of the reason for the LPAs I mentioned earlier, so I can deal with stuff like this for him.

 

If I'm unable to contact them on Monday, I will try and arrange a face to face meeting. But I suspect it will be at least a week for that, and then can't guarantee I can even get him there without issue.

 

Really shocked there's no info online about this form. I've found others who have mentioned it, but they all say they received a form specifically asking about a bank account... this form has nothing mentioned, and seems like a template. I'm assuming it's an error, but don't want to just simply ignore it if he is required to provide something. But can't provide something if he's not sure what they're even after.

 

Fingers crossed I get an answer on monday

[tomtom256]

Only somebody from the DWP can you tell what they want completing and sending back.

[mafiaduck]

9 minutes ago, tomtom256 said:

Only somebody from the DWP can you tell what they want completing and sending back.

 

I know that. I just wondered if anyone knew if it was normal to be blank... because it seemed to have been sent in error. Especially since its just addressed to his first name, and is sheet 4/12 but has no others with it.

 

No one seems to know, but old posts I found indicated it should have details on it, so I found it confusing. 

 

Not expecting people to know the ins and outs of his case and what they want from him, just if people had experience with this specific form.

 

No one seems to though, so may as well close the thread. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions anyway.

[unclebulgaria67]

The A42 form may be the one, asking someone to list their savings and investments.

 

If this is the case, then yes it will be a blank form. 

 

What is the form asking about ?

 

Remember that DWP only keep any information for as long as it is required in line with Data Protection Act.  They will send forms out asking for up to date information

 

ESA is affected by other income, savings and investments.  So is this the reason for this form ?

 

According to info I found online the A42 is to enable to DWP to obtain up to date financial information that could affect any means tested benefits.

[mafiaduck]

21 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

The A42 form may be the one, asking someone to list their savings and investments.

 

If this is the case, then yes it will be a blank form. 

 

What is the form asking about ?

 

Remember that DWP only keep any information for as long as it is required in line with Data Protection Act.  They will send forms out asking for up to date information

 

ESA is affected by other income, savings and investments.  So is this the reason for this form ?

 

According to info I found online the A42 is to enable to DWP to obtain up to date financial information that could affect any means tested benefits.

 

He got the form along with 2 forms asking for updates for his 2 pensions. I figured it would be to do with his savings account, but as it just provides 5 tick boxes (none of which are selected, and 4 of which are none applicable) and then says "we would like to contact:" and then there is an empty box, which other people have mentioned having the same form where they specifically asked to contact a bank.

 

If its meant to be blank and for him to fill in his own details of his bank, I guess I'll help him get it all ready this weekend so we can send it off when they confirm it Monday.

 

I hope its not going to cause a huge headache cause he has a bit more than 6k in savings, because he only went over it when they backpaid him owed ESA, PIP, Housing and Council Tax as one lump sum after he'd cashed in a small 4k pension pot, he'd have never been over if they'd not removed his benefit last year without reason anyway

[unclebulgaria67]

Some savings can be disregarded.  These can include pension drawdowns, benefit back payments for a period of time.

 

Provide all of the information with the form and let a DWP decision maker review this.

 

If there are savings above £6000 threshold, there is a deduction amount that would apply which is think is about£4.30 for each £250 of savings above the £6000.   But if enough savings can be disregarded, there might be no deduction applicable

 

For ESA, it is only if the savings exceed £16000 they they would close the benefit.