Department for Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 16 March 2023.
Wendy Chamberlain
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in (a) Canada and (b) elsewhere have been impacted by his Department's administrative errors relating to the processing of Proof of Life letters, which have led to the suspension of UK state pension payments.
Laura Trott
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The issues which occurred in 2022, relating to the temporary suspension of the State Pension of some customers living in Canada, was not caused by DWP and was due to reasons outside the Department’s control.
In 2022, there were 120,479 Life Certificates issued to State Pension customers living in Canada. DWP’s international postal provider confirmed there were postal issues in Canada due to air capacity. This resulted in the temporary suspension of 12,858 customers State Pension after 16 weeks of the issue of the Life Certificate, which was due to a completed Life Certificate not being returned within the prescribed time limit. At this point, corrective action was taken by DWP to reinstate the State Pension of all customers effected and allowed a further 48 weeks for customers to return their completed Life Certificate.
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
