MikeE wrote:That's awful @Avtur3, so sorry to hear that. There is a service called 'tell us once' that you can use to avoid notifying individual departments. Details are here https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organi ... ll-us-once
The person your wife spoke to was completely wrong in saying what they did and there is absolutely no reason for suggesting that anything 'fraudulent' has taken place. Sometimes with these things an overpayment may occur, but that is not the result of any criminal activity. I would definitely go along with Kanga's suggestion of writing to your MP, asking him to take it up with the relevant Minister and, if unsatisfied, with the Ombudsman. I appreciate that you will have other things on your mind at the moment, but the civil servant involved needs to receive further training as a minimum if they are to stay in a public-facing role, especially in such a sensitive area.
With best wishes
Mike
Thanks for your message, and also @kanga
I've already initiated the 'tell us once' service, that seems like a good idea. You do need a large amount of information to hand to make best use of the service, but that said, the information only has to be entered once and all government and local government agencies are supposed to be informed; time will tell, but hopefully that should save us a lot of phone calls.
Unfortunately Mrs A's carers allowance falls outside the the scope of 'tell us once', while the benefit is dependent on her Mum's condition (and yes we're telling them that Mum has passed away) this is not linked to the 'tell us once' information. Carers allowance is claimed by the carer themselves and requires that the carer is the one who assumes responsibility for any communications about the allowance.
We have no problem with the financial balance being calculated, the allowance should be paid for 8 weeks after a persons passing, but it is actually abut 11 weeks since Mum went into hositpal, the point at which we should have informed them, and that would have stopped the payments until she either returned home or passed away.
What is distasteful beyond belief is that the DHSS operative has left Mrs A in a no man's land, as to whether action will be taken about making a fraudulent claim, when the operative knew full well that Mum hasn't even been buried yet. I mean just how much cr @ p is a person supposed to put up with??
Having seen the distress this had caused Mrs A, I'm all for complaining and writing to our MP and anyone else who would listen or take an interest. However, that is unlikely to result in any peace of mind for Mrs A, who, quite understandably wants this matter to go away as quickly as possible. This is likely to be achieved by writing a cheque for about £150 when the invoice arrives. It causes me some concern that the operative should 'get away' with such an approach, but obviously my ultimate loyalty is to Mrs A.