Daughter seems to be underpaid of her PIP but helpline keeps telling me they will ring me back

LOUMUM

Hi, 
My daughter is at a special needs boarding school during the week. Therefore I have been sending in her boarding dates since about 2021, so they can adjust her PIP. Initially I filled in the form, but they were never actioned, so after their advice I started calling with the dates each school holiday (when me daughter was there, so they would talk to me).

In January I called the helpline because she just didn't seem to get enough, she hadn't been in school for 28 days in the autumn term due to poor mental health, and then she was out over Christmas for about 6 weeks, so I calculated she shouldn't be having an deductions. After about 4 calls to the helpline, I managed to get the dates they had in evidence for her being at boarding school. They had entered all her dates in incorrectly, and documented that she was at school when she was at home and vice versa. This meant they had documented that she was in school every weekend from October and for the entirety of December, including Christmas Day, as her school is only open during the week during term time, this isn't possible. 

After several more calls to the helpline, during which I was spoken to extremely badly and accused of deliberately giving the wrong dates, I was told I would need a mandatory reconsideration, her benefits were stopped and she received a text that this would be done by the end of March. 

At the start of April, I rang back, and they entered some dates in the system and she got paid some benefits, but not enough. I have again rung up about 5 times, each time they tell me they will ring me back, but they don't. Last week I spoke to someone who said the dates had been entered incorrectly since 2021 and that they would need completely re-entering and that they would ring back before the end of the week to give me an update, they didn't.

I am now at a loss of what to do. I have tried to raise this as a complaint following their procedures both in writing and over the phone and this still doesn't seem to be resolved. Any ideas what I can do next?

TheManFromLondon

I know it wont help, but considering you have also filed a complaint and waiting for them to take action, there is really nothing else you can do at thats stage, with the exception to write to you MP and explain how this situation puts your daughter in a very difficult financial position.

i read MPs manage to have some kind of direct line to them and their offices do chase benefit cases that reach them. Try this today, write and explain all to your MP, particularly how they messed it up and the way the spoke to you, on top of the struggle you're going through now. At the very least it will run alongside waiting for DWP.

bernadetta

I had a similar situation last month, threatened them with the complaint after waiting 3 months for the boarders payments, and they finally paid last week, but you already raised a complaint, plus it has been an ongoing issue, so contacting MP and waiting for the complaint to be actioned, and following through with the ICE sounds like the best course of action. 
They do encourage to call them with the dates, but they get them wrong. I always send them letters, make copies, recorded delivery, and it is easier to get the money back as it is in writing as opposed to calling. I have heard there is 100% turnover of the staff, so no wonder the call handlers do not care, are poorly trained and make mistakes