Widow, 86, left without pension for six months

AN 86-year-old West Somerset woman was forced to survive without her State pension entitlement for nearly six months because of an address mix-up.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) finally handed over the money only after the intervention of the West Somerset Advice Bureau.
Vera Glendall, formerly of Holloway Street, Minehead, only managed to make ends meet with the help of her daughter, who sent money from South Africa.
Mrs Glendall, a retired teacher, returned from South Africa to England earlier this year, after the death of her South African husband.
She notified the DWP of her intentions in May of this year – but because correspondence from the Ministry failed to reach her as she moved address, her pension payments were not made.
It was only thanks to a stroke of luck and the intervention of advice workers in the West Somerset Advice Bureau, that the DWP finally paid out the money to Mrs Glendall.
Now, Mrs Glendall is calling for an apology over the matter and also an explanation as to why the DWP did not even reply to her letters on the subject.
Mrs Glendall told The Crier: “When I came back I went to the bank to get some money our and buy some furniture and look for a place to live because I only had a holiday place to stay in.
“When I looked at the statement and realised what had happened it was terrible because what I thought I had in the bank was not there.
“If my daughter had not sent me some money it would have been very difficult. All I have to date is just a bed and a couple of chairs and I have been in need of some things.
“I do not know why they stopped it. They kept saying I had not filled in some life document but I had never received it. I had a letter back saying it was my fault.
“Then, it transpired they had sent it to a holiday accommodation address in Porlock where I stayed for a fortnight when I came back and they sent it the day that I moved out so it never reached me.
“This is the first time in my life I have ever experienced anything like this and I would still like an apology or an explanation from them.
“It is shocking. If it had not been for the advice bureau I would never have got it, I think.”
Mrs Glendall said it was only by good fortune that she met an adviser in the bureau who had experienced a similar problem when he returned from South Africa, and he therefore knew whom to contact to sort out the situation.
She said: “The outcome is that they have paid it now, but only under pressure and with reluctance.”
DWP spokesperson Jamie Pike said he could not discuss the details of any individual case because of confidentiality issues.
However, Mr Pike told The Crier: “Customers are required to keep the Pensions Service, overseas branch, informed of any changes in their circumstances that will affect payment of benefit.
“It is therefore vitally important that when a customer changes address they let us know of their new details as quickly as possible.
If this is not done, any correspondence sent to the customer may not reach them and subsequently payments may be delayed, and on occasion this could be for a considerable time.
“This is especially relevant to customers who have returned from a lengthy period of living abroad.”
Advice bureau manager Liz Moore said volunteers were needed to help keep the centre’s service operating and she wanted to hear from anybody who would like to offer their services, whether as an adviser, or receptionist, or administrator, or any other role.
The centre can be contacted on 01643 704624.

• Our photograph shows one of the West Somerset Advice Bureau advisers, Stuart Durrant, outside the agency’s Minehead premises. Photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M1108002. Order photo reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.