The complaint
Adrian complained to the Public Service Ombudsman about the way the Department for Work and Pensions handled changes to his pension. He said the Department failed to tell him about a change that would leave him £3,000 a year worse off.
Background
Adrian, 82, was born in Bedford and served in the Army. He and his wife Sheila, 67, moved to Brittany in 1994.
Adrian received Adult Dependency Increase (ADI) payments, extra money paid when the main earner in a household reaches State Pension age but their partner has not yet reached it. In 2010, the Department told people living in the UK that these payments would end. It did not tell people living abroad, including Adrian, at the same time.
Adrian only found out in 2018, through his annual pension statement, that his ADI payments would stop in 2020. This left him more than £250 a month worse off.
What we found
We upheld this complaint. We found that the Department failed to communicate the changes to Adrian properly and should have told him in April 2010, when it told everyone else. The Department also failed to respond to his questions and complaints in a reasonable time.
We do not know how many people living abroad were affected. In May 2019, the Department told Parliament that 10,817 people were still receiving ADI payments.
Putting it right
We recommended that the Department:
- apologise to Adrian
- pay him £675 to reflect the impact of its failings
- provide a similar remedy to anyone else who contacts them with a similar experience.
The Department has complied with these recommendations.