Why won´t the DWP answer my simple question. Why have you stopped a third of my pension,without telling me?

[enochpowel1]

Ah, those wonderful, easy to reach, friendly, helpful, efficient, (bussiness) Gov´t departments ( paid by us the people "myself 45 years of stamps - taxes etc") are at it again.

The simple problem. They; (DWP) have decided; it seems; to take a third of my pension without telling me why.

I simply want to know; "Why"

As they have already put into effect their decision/conclusion; ( based on facts I assume- MMMMM) Then this is the answer to my question. "Tell me" Or is it a secret ?

I have phoned; E mailed. I am sending an E mail each day. I get one of those wonderful robotic replies which says " We will give you the answer to your Question in 10 days. (Haaaa flippin haaaaa)
Background: I don´t live in England now; I have been living abroad for 11 years.
I have been collecting my pension since 2008. Left England in 1999. It´s not easy to get your MP to sign your letter/ pop in/ phone/etc. It´s B-------y expensive.

DWP webpage.Trying to complain is a minefield with twisty paths to negotiate before you find yourself back at the beginning looking at the back of your own head. I like the way, they; as often as possible; ask you to fill in a questionnaire about how good the site/they are. Lovely pointed questions. I like the way on page one it uses the word complain ; then on page 2 it changes to an enquiery; after that you don´t know where or why you are bothering to get in touch with a shifting mist. Then you realise this is part of their masterplan. Time is on their side. Perhaps I will pass on or get senile dementia and forget.
Can anyone help. I believe they cannot take money from my pension without telling me in advance. Thanks in advance.

[factor-fiction]

Can you clarify this please.

Have they said they have taken off a third or have you worked it out?

Is it not simply because you 'contracted out' at some stage? Were you ever in a company pension scheme?

[factor-fiction]

Sorry my eyes glazed over as I read the rants in the middle and I missed some details. I assume it's something to do with your being out of the country. Have they suddenly reduced it by 30%- that it is yoou used to get £X a week and now you get only 70% of X. Did they ever give ANy reason? Did they warn you/advise you of a change? Have your circumstances changed?
Maybe try ringing. And before you complain about the cost- it's not their fault you live overseas.

[boxtops]

Are you being taxed on it at a different level because you are ex-pat?
The taxman gets things wrong from time to time. If it's happened since 6-4-10, then it could be that a new tax code is being implemented.
It might be easier to check with your tax office first, before you resume your attempts to contact DWP.

[buildersmate]

I suspect this may be to do with income tax and not the amount of gross pension you are being paid. You will generally have to pay UK tax at source on your pension in either of the following situations:
1) you are not regarded as 'ordinarily non-resident'. If you have permanently moved away to retire you should be able to claim 'ordinarily non-resident' status, so this wouldn't be an issue. However it depends on whether you have cut your links and whether you keep coming back here to visit.
2) the country to which you retired to does NOT have a double-taxation treaty with the UK. You didn't tell us where you moved to.
See here for more indo.
http://www.direct.gov...tepension/DG_10026714
In any event, every March/April the DWP writes to State pension holders to tell them what their new figure for the next year will be. This letter also tells how the taxation at source will work. Are you saying you received no such letter?

[buildersmate]

I probably should have added that, if my taxation theory is correct, you have previously been treated as non-resident and for some reason this has changed. They will need to tell you why - it is either because a mistake was made at the start of your pension-drawing or because your circumstances (or the assumptions they made about them) have changed. This would knock your net pension back by these sorts of amounts.

[dzug2]

But surely DWP has no mechanism for deducting tax at source from pensions anyway? They certainly haven't for pensions paid in the UK. Overseas ones might be different but it seems a little unlikley

[Buenchico]

I'm wondering whether you were receiving both the basic state pension (which is paid to Brits abroad) and pension credit (which tops up the basic state pension, where necessary, to a certain minimum level but - to the best of my knowledge - is not paid to Brits abroad). If the DWP suddenly realised that you were not in the UK, they would have withdrawn the pension credit element of your payments.

But we're all guessing here. We really need further details from you (regarding the actual amounts involved) before we can really work out what's going on.

Chris