Home > Publications > Selected cases — Parliamentary > Selected Cases and Summaries of Completed Investigations - October 1998 - March 1999 > Department for Education and Employment
Sixth Report Session 1998-99
Volume 2
OCTOBER 1998 - MARCH 1999
The full report of selected cases
Summary of other investigations completed
DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Mishandling by the Employment Service (ES) of a tax refund and delay by them in dealing with backdated claims for unemployment benefit
When Mrs F claimed unemployment benefit in 1993 she provided ES with a form P45 from her previous employment. The form lacked a tax district reference, and the Ombudsman found that ES had not tried to identify the tax district. As a result a tax refund to Mrs F was delayed. The Ombudsman also found that ES had taken too long to deal with Mrs F's backdated claims for unemployment benefit. He found poor record-keeping and poor handling of correspondence. ES offered apologies to Mrs F and agreed to make ex gratia payments to her totalling £60.
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Case No. C.296/95
Failure by the former Teachers' Pensions Agency (TPA) to maintain a correct record of a teacher's pensionable service
When Mr C temporarily left teaching in 1986 he transferred his pension rights from the Teachers' Superannuation Scheme (TSS) to a personal pension scheme. That was not properly noted on TPA records. He resumed teaching in 1992, but in 1994 his employing local education authority (LEA) offered him premature retirement, giving him a forecast of his compensation and pension entitlements, based on information from the TPA, which wrongly counted all his pre-1986 service. The mistake was discovered only after Mr C had retired and been paid a lump sum of £8,175.63 in compensation. He was offered the chance to transfer his personal pension funds back to the TSS, although that would not have bought him the benefits the earlier forecast had led him to expect. Alternatively he was asked to pay back the £8,175.63. The Ombudsman found that TPA, the LEA and Mr C himself had all contributed to matters turning out as they did. The Department agreed to apologise to Mr C on behalf of the former TPA and to accept responsibility for reimbursing the £8,175.63 paid to him should the LEA pursue its recovery. It remains open to Mr C to turn to the courts, the TSS dispute resolution procedures and/or the Pensions Ombudsman on any grievance relating to his entitlements under the TSS.
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Mishandling by the Benefits Agency (BA) and the Employment Service (ES) of an application for jobseekers' allowance (JSA)
The Ombudsman found that BA and ES had been responsible for a number of errors and delays in their handling of Mr X's claim to JSA. They failed to review the relevance to his JSA claim of an earlier decision to suspend his entitlement to national insurance credits and payments to him of income support. As a result Mr X was at first refused JSA for the period 7 October to 13 December 1996. BA also delayed paying Mr X's housing costs and, when they eventually did that, they mishandled payments to the mortgage lender. BA made an ex gratia payment of £25.58 to Mr X, representing the additional interest that had accrued on his mortgage account as a result of their delay in paying his housing costs. BA and ES each agreed to make consolatory payments of £250 (£500 in all) to Mr X in recognition of the gross inconvenience they had caused him.
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Alleged loss by the Employment Service of an application form
The complainant said that on 17 September 1997 he had handed a completed application form for extended housing benefit to his local jobcentre. The form should then have been sent to the local authority but they said they had not received it. On 14 October the complainant completed a second form but his application was then too late to succeed. The Ombudsman found no evidence that the jobcentre had received and subsequently lost the first application form.
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