Common sense!!

Or lack of it in this case.

In January of this year I completed the form for a Pension forecast, it got lost in the post. So in February I completed another one, only to have a phone call from the DWP to say that as it was less than 4 months from my 60th birthday I could not have a forecast I would have to wait and apply at the appropriate time.

I then received documentation from the DWP, completed and returned it along with P60 and marriage certificate. Marriage certificate duly returned to me. On Tuesday (11 May) I received this letter, posted 15 April, along with my completed documentation.

Apparently the form I returned was not eligible to be processed as it is more than 4 months from the date I can claim my pension under the equalisation law. So one department is saying that my form cannot be processed because it is less than 4 months from my 60th birthday, and another department is saying that it cannot be processed because it is more than 4 months from the date of entitlement.

Why have they wasted postage, why didn't they just put my claim form in a pending file then on the appropriate date (6 May) retrieve the paperwork and complete my pension application process. What is even more annoying is that my pension is delayed until September, but I do not get it back dated, so I lose over a thousand pounds. The Equalisation Law was snuck through parliament and I believe that there are many thousands of women who are not aware that their state pensions are to be delayed, for every month they are born after 5 April 1950 their pension is delayed by a month, and so they lose out, my sister being one of them. Rant over.