National Audit Office:One third of Complaints to Pensions, Disability & Carers Service get no reply - Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has published a report on the Complaints Handling of the Department for Work & Pensions.
"13. The Public Administration Committee has concluded that people complaining to
government organisations often needed “time, persistence and stamina” to see their
complaints through to conclusion.13 The Department has made its complaints processes
more accessible and they compare well with other comparable international social security
organisations. However, according to a National Audit Office survey, around a third of
customers complaining to the Pensions, Disability and Carers Service had not received a
reply at all. The Pensions, Disability and Carers Service was surprised by this finding and is
introducing a 2% random review of all complaints to check that cases have been properly
handled. It expects its performance to improve significantly."
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Complaints and appeals
- Complaining about service or how your claim has been handled
- If you think our decision is wrong
- The Tribunals Service
- Complaining about the Department
The Department for Work and Pensions and its businesses are committed to providing quality services. If you are not satisfied we want to hear your complaint.
Complaining about service or how your claim has been handled
Please complain first to the manager of the office that dealt with your claim. If you do not already have contact details you can find them in local office search.
Each of our businesses has its own complaints procedure for its customers. Follow the links to read about them:
- Complaining to The Pension Service (this link takes you to The Pension Service website)
- Complaining to Jobcentre Plus (this link takes you to the Jobcentre Plus website)
- Complaining to the Child Support Agency (this link takes you to the Child Support Agency website)
- Complaining to the Department's Debt Management organisation
- Complaining to the Disability and Carers Service
Important
We cannot treat a complaint as an appeal against a benefit decision. To appeal read ‘If you think our decision is wrong’ below.
If you think our decision is wrong
If you think our decision is wrong, you can ask us to explain it. If you still think it is wrong after we have explained, we will look at it again.
For some decisions, you may also be able to appeal to an independent tribunal who can change the decision if they agree that it is wrong.
There are time limits for asking us to look at decisions again and for appealing. We tell you about these time limits and about appealing in our leaflet GL24 If you think our decision is wrong
The Tribunals Service
The Tribunals Service is an independent organisation that arranges and hears appeals against decisions on:
- social security
- child support
- vaccine damage
- tax credit
- compensation recovery.
For more information go to the Tribunals Service website.
Complaining about the Department
As a Department we want to give a good service to everyone who has dealings with us.
Each of our businesses has its own complaints procedure. To complain about one of our businesses go to Complaining about service or how your claim has been handled.
If you are dissatisfied with anything we, as a Department, not our businesses, have done or not done, please let us know this either in writing – by post, email or fax – or by phoning, to the manager of the part of the Department concerned.
We will investigate your complaint fully and objectively. We will aim to get back to you within two weeks to tell you whether we accept it and, if so, what we are doing to put matters right. If we do not accept your complaint we will give you our reasons.
If you are still dissatisfied, you can ask us to take a second, and final, look at the issue. This will be done by a member of our staff who is more senior to the person who reviewed the complaint originally.
