When returning this to DWP do you normally send it normal mail or do you send it certified post?

Rosemary

I guess it depends on how much faith you put in your postal system ... here in Belgium it's "a bit iffy" so I use registered post for DWP and the Swiss equivalent.

Thank you. Never had any problems with our postal system but concerned about this one so thought that I would ask what method others use.

Rosemary

The Hungarian post is pretty good (the other end however?) nevertheless I still use certified post.

When sending documents I have used 'registering' which gives tracking although I'm aware that the item received is only confirmation of which agency is acting for the DWP rather than the DWP office itself.

I believe that these days mail is opened and scanned with DWP (or whichever department is involved in whatever matter) staff then accessing the scans.

Elsewhere on this topic, BE members have posted that they have receive text messages from SWP confirming all is in order. For me, that seems more important than the mailing method.
(and I can't receive texts - I'm hoping they email about mine)

Great information, thanks.

I have included a letter requesting that they e-mail me to confirm receipt of the paperwork but did not think about asking whether it was in order.

Rosemary

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it's all pre-programmed with someone giving the witness part a cursory glance to see if they are "qualified" (with some random check built in) and the resulting data entry will produce an automated text. I noticed the form asked for the full number as it would be dialled, so probably not even someone engaged in the texting part.

Hopefully that letter will be seen as something additional to the normal routine, thus needing additional action. I noted the same sheet for an email so maybe that was a mistake on my part.

Hope that you are correct because I put my landline number (out of habit) so no texting possible. The Justice of the Peace who completed my form made a small error because she was nervous due to never dealing with English people or English forms. Obviously I had to translate everything for her and she had to trust me.

Rosemary

Some time ago I had one of these. The people who could sign it would be Spanish and the form was in English. I sent it back, unsigned, requesting a form in Spanish (the second most spoken language in the world) since the other UK forms are usually available in most foreign languages, including Welsh, Hindi, Urdu, Gujurati etc.

I never got a response or another form. I am still getting my pension!

I guess they realised that you must be still alive!

I too find it stupid that they send a form in English to a Spanish address. Surprised that you have not received another form, well done.

First time that I have had to do this for my state pension and was surprised at how short the list is of those who are eligible to sign it. Whereas my very small work pension (government pension) I have had to do three times so far but the list of eligible people is much longer.

had to go to the Justice of the Peace because no-one on the list was prepared to do it for me because it was in English. The sub manager of the bank explained that she would have to send the form to head office for them to officially translate it and give her permission to sign it and she could not guarantee that it would be allowed.

Rosemary

That really is a good one

My pensions are staggered; CH kicked in age 65, UK age 66.

Both want proof of life from time to time, so (ever efficient) I 'phoned DWP asking if they could bring the POL paper ahead by one year.

It was meant as a two birds, one stone kind of thing; parking anywhere near the town hall is a bit painful even in the best of times.

Person at DWP said sorry, can't do that, it's in the computer ...

My next visits to the town hall were quite amusing: I presented the requests, apologised in Dutch for the 'foreign' language, received "no problem, we speak English" on one count and some torrent of stuff when presenting the Swiss/French one. I had to translate that on the fly before they stamped it.

Why do the Brits lag so far behind Spain ?? Social Secuirty has available an App , Vivess, to set up on your mobile phone and every year as a Spanish pensioner outside Spain I just smile into it and job done.

My private pension provider (actually a quasi governmental organisation) just requires me to log on to their website annually & answer a couple of questions.
Job done.

The UK Government's computer systems are so old and decrepit that I am amazed they work at all. From my experience, the Spanish systems are light years ahead. Possibly the reason for this is that the Spanish systems are much newer, but the UK systems are very old, and various "Upgrades" have not worked well. With computer systems, starting from scratch has huge advantages. As a very experienced IT person, I am particularly impressed with the AEAT tax declaration system, the regional health apps and the easy availability of digital ID systems, such as digital certificates and Cl@ve. The UK still does not even have ID cards, let alone digital IDs. They cannot even manage to insist on eye tests for drivers!