An urgent request addressed to the Pension Service

Dear Pension Service,

On March 20 I wrote to you: “Today I have received your letter of 14/03/2015 in which you inform me of my pension. In the paragraph entitled ‘How your benefit is made up’ you write: ‘Basic State Pension £37.10. Pre 97 additional State Pension 2.85. Minus Adjustment of £13.00. The amount each week is £26.95.’ Would you explain to me on what basis you are making the Minus Adjustment of £13.00?”

In a letter of 31 March 2015 Glyn Caron replied: ‘I have been requested to reply to your letter of 20^th March 2015. As you are aware you have an overpayment of Pension Credit to pay.’

In my letter of 4^th April I wrote to her:
'What you wrote in your letter is wrong. I am not aware that I have ‘an overpayment of Pension Credit to pay’. I have been aware, of course, that in 2009 I have been charged with the debt of £11,856.70, and that ever since the pay I have been receiving was weekly lessened by a certain amount. In 2009 it was 9.50 a week, now it is £13.00 a week. All my attempts to learn on what basis I have been found in debt have thus far remained unanswered. Those who asked you to reply to my letter ought to have given you access to the basic facts underlying the whole matter. Instead, you have been left in the dark. If you are not allowed an access to the facts, would you inform me to whom I should appeal, who would have the power to ask for and obtain an access to those facts?'

In a letter of 09 April she replied:
'I have been requested to reply to your email of 4th April 2015. Your initial enquiry was regarding the £13.00 minus adjustment to your State Pension which I feel I answered.'

May I therefore address to you my question once again: On what basis have the Pension Service found me in debt of £11,956.70 ? My request is urgent. On the 1^st of September I shall be separating from my wife. From then on I shall live on my State Pension, at Oxford. My State Pension, even if it were paid to me in full, is not sufficient for my renting any accommodation at Oxford; I shall be therefore spending my nights in front of Balliol College, my days at Bodleian Library. But it would make a great difference, if I feed myself on £39.95 instead of £26.95.

Let me bring to your attention the following: On 7 October 2009 I wrote to Ursula Grum from the Debt Management: ‘Would you tell me, please, how you arrived at the sum £11,846.70, which I allegedly still owe you?’ In reply she sent me the following ‘Overpayment Calculation’:

From 01/08/2005 to 09/04/2006, weeks 36, incorrect paid £71.9, excess £71.9, amount overpaid £2,588.40. From 10/04/2006 to 30/07/2006, weeks 16, incorrect paid £78.14, excess £78.14, amount overpaid £1,250.24. From 31/07/2006 to 08/04/2007, weeks 36, incorrect paid £62.21, excess £62.21, amount overpaid £2,239.56. From 09/04/2007 to 06/04/2008, weeks 52, incorrect paid £68.8, excess £68.8, amount overpaid £3,577.60. From 07/04/2008 to 19/10/2008, weeks 28, incorrect paid £75.28, excess £75.28, amount overpaid £2,107.84. The sum total: £11,763.04.

This means that all the money that I had received from Pension Service from 01/08/2005 to 19/10/2008 were simply summed up as my ‘debt’. As soon as you realize this, you will find that it must be wrong.

I hope to be hearing from you soon,

Yours faithfully

Julius Tomin