Officially old, but form to fill in, advice?

[phoenix]

Rant, I will soon be officially old
I'm a few months from being able to claim an old age pension. The Pension service is proactive, knows where I live and has sent me a form. They know my date of birth and my NI number as it's already on the form.
They want to know every place I've ever lived and the dates down to the day. I think it's 25+ addresses but I may have forgotten some, both my father and my husband were in the armed services. I can't remember all the numbers of the houses and I haven't the foggiest idea of exact dates.
It's almost as bad with work, fortunately, I've got some longer periods especially in my latter years of work but before that it was very bitty. I might get the year right but no way the dates and what about all the temp jobs I did as a student?
BUT they have my NI number and from 1978 onwards, when they changed the regulations for married women, I was either working and paying full stamp or getting credit as I had children so they should have a full record of my contributions and credits ..... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Has anyone else had to do this, do they really need everything? accurately?

 

[noblehead]

Crikey .........they are not asking for much Phoenix!!!!!

I've not got to that age yet but hopefully someone else can advise.

 

[Alanp35]

I would offer the last 10 years, if you can, and explain that you were forces family and moved so much at the behest of,the government. See how that goes.



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[Robbity]

I've been officially old for the last 11-12 years, but I don't remember ever having to fill in such a detailed form at all. I think the most I had to do was give details of where I'd worked & when so they could check my various pension entitlements from different employers.

I was also a forces daughter so equally wouldn't have been able to detail all my addresses...although I don't think I would have had so many to attempt to remember!

I think you should definitely try to find out from them why they want/need so much detail.

Robbity

 

[WeeWillie]

Hi phoenix, it was the same for me 5 years ago, but I had to hazard a guess for some of the replies, so
to cover myself for the the answers I had to guess, I initialled and dated each answer followed by the
short statement ... "To the best of my knowledge my answers are true and correct".

They didn't question my answers.

Just a tip, photo copy the questions and answers, they may ask you the same question a few years down the line.


Good luck and
Best wishes.

willie.

 

[phoenix]

Hi Willie, that's an excellent idea.
Last night, I even ended up trying to work out exactly where one house was from google earth!

 

[Thommothebear]

It's best to give them as much information as possible. Some employers were less than dilligent in providing ni contribution information and the further back you can go the better chance you have of receiving all the pension benefits you are entitled to. My late mother went through this process and had her pension increased substantially as a result as there had been apparent unexplained gaps of contributions in the records.




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[phoenix]

Yes, I can see that would be the case. Apart from student jobs, when I probably didn't pay enough stamps to count in any year since then all my employers have either been been local education authorities or the government so I would hope that their records are accurate.

 

[Thommothebear]

Lol, I would not count on it!


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[kesun]

I haven't had to fill that one in yet, but I've found similarly unrealistic questions on immigration and disability forms. What I do is to fill in the information I can remember or work out, leaving out the bits I can't (eg I put the road but not the exact house number or the second half of the post code, or I fill in the year but not the month or day). Then I do a covering letter explaining what I've done. If the form asks for proof I don't have (eg a recent one wanted evidence "such as a ticket or boarding pass" of my every overseas trip since 1996), I write that I don't have it and ask what alternative evidence they will accept.

I agree it's maddening to have to fill in information they already know. I recently filled out a visa renewal application for a friend in which you had to fill in the applicant's name twice and address four separate times, on a form available only in hard copy and to renew a visa for which all the information had already been submitted, approved and logged a year ago.

Kate

 

[WeeWillie]

phoenix, the Dept of Works and Pensions and other Government/ Local Councils etc, departmental forms are actively trying to catch people out with these frustratingly confusing forms we all have to fill out from time to time.
These various official Government Authorities are loosing £millions to those who wrongfully attempt to beat "the system".

If we all can accept that and keep it in mind (if there's a next time) we'll probably find that although our time and effort is maddening and irritating, we're actually helping catch these crooks.

We're the one's paying the price for fraudulent claims, unfortunately there's not a thing we can do about it except, that is, accept the frustration these forms cause us.

We're all winners if we can accept that.

Hope this doesn't come across as patronizing in any manner, it's genuinely not intended to be.


Fight the good fight, everyone... we win.

....


Willie.

 

[phoenix]

Yes maybe hoist by my own petard. One of those government jobs was working for the Office of population, Censuses and Surveys on the Labour Force Survey. The survey even then was horribly complicated. and some people were asked to respond every month for 6 months (wasn't to seek out fraudsters though ) It's even longer now though and seems to have morphed into a monster.

http://www.esds.ac.uk/doc/6782/mrdoc/pdf/lfs_user_guide_vol2_questionnaire2011.pdf

 

[kesun]

If we all can accept that and keep it in mind (if there's a next time) we'll probably find that although our time and effort is maddening and irritating, we're actually helping catch these crooks.

I hate to admit it, but you are right

I recently had to renew my daughter's blue badge. The form has changed, and it was a huge hassle to fill in. I had to find the DWP letter confirming her higher level DLA. I had to drive her to a wheelchair-accessible photographer to get a passport-grade photo taken - an able-bodied teenager could have done it in a photo booth. She doesn't understand what's going on so it took over 30 shots by the patient photographer to get one with her head still and her eyes open. I had to find a separate letter from the DWP confirming I'm her appointee. None of these difficulties is insuperable, but they did add considerably to the burdens of looking after a disabled teen. But then I did some searching and reading and found out that blue badges are widely abused and change hands for several thousand pounds on the black market. And I tried to work out how I would catch the fraudsters, and couldn't come up with anything much other than what they are doing: putting checks in whenever you make or renew a claim.

Kate