No received letter informing me that my UC50 form was received one day late

Peter1

I sent my UC50 form and I was waiting for the date of the health assessment interview. However, not having received a letter with this date I phoned to the Universal Credit (UC) Department and I was told that my case was closed because my UC50 form was received one day after the 28 days deadline

What has happened is that despite having sent my UC50 form Next Day Guarantee Delivery Service one day before the 28 days deadline so that it was delivered next day it took two days to arrive.

I have read that when the UC50 Form arrived late the Universal Credit (UC) Department contacts the client to ask him why he has sent his UC50 form late and if he has a good reason for having sent it late the Universal Credit (UC) Department can nevertheless accepts the UC50 Form

However, the problem is that the Universal Credit (UC) department did not inform me that my UC50 form was received late so I believed that it was processed normally and I did not provide any explanation why it was received late. If, I would have had the opportunity to provide an explanation my UC50 form could have been accepted because I sent it Next Day Guarantee Delivery and it was received only one day late

I would like to know what to do

Moreover, My UC50 form was sent within the 28 days deadline but was received after this deadline. Hence, I would like to know if the 28 days deadline means that the UC50 form should be sent to the Universal Credit (UC) Department within this 28 days deadline or it should be received by it within this 28 days deadline because when we post a letter we do not know when it will be received.

poppy123456

Yes, you should have been contacted to ask your reasons why you didn't return it. The form needs to be "returned" by that date, meaning you need to post it by that date. What happens after you've posted it is out of your control.

Your have proof you posted it and that's all you need. Request the MR on the decision to close your case for the WCA.

Peter1

Do you know what are the rules concerning these issues?

Peter1

Are you sure that what matter is the date when the UC50 was posted and not received by the DWP because I think that the employees of the DWP who receive the UC50 form do not look at the date of postage in the envelop especially that sometimes there is none and not all letters are sent recorded delivery?

It could be good to have the opinion of other members of this forum and to know the regulation which regulate these issued

Albus_Scope

Hi @Peter1 as far as I'm aware, they'll go from the postmark, as that'll prove when you sent the forms back.

poppy123456

Yes, I'm sure. Indeed they probably won't look at the date you posted it BUT you have proof that you posted it before the deadline and that's all you need. This is why when I advise someone returning anything to DWP they should always get proof of posting, which is free from any post office.

tifo

This happened to me in April 2019 and greatly affected my WCA claim in 2019 (and then delayed it by 2 years because of covid in 2020). They closed my WCA claim because they said it was received a day late and I argued that I posted it on day 27 and within the 28 days, just that next day delivery took 2 days. They said it should be received within 28 days but I replied this is not clear in the letter as 'returned' is not the same as 'received'.

They accepted my reason and a note in the journal said to the effect "we accept your reason and the claim will be passed to an assessor". This didn't happen and affected my whole claim.

tifo

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/932702#Comment_932702

The OP is not to blame, they sent it by Next Day Guaranteed Delivery, it is the fault of Royal Mail not to provide that service. I've been in the same situation and the letter says "returned by" not "received by" and if the DWP want it received within 28 days they should say so.

Albus_Scope

I think that's a bit of a harsh comment there @TheManFromLondon we never know the full story, so let's try and keep things civil and supportive please.

Peter1

I have to explain that a UC50 form is a long document and it takes a long time to complete especially when we have numerous health conditions. Moreover, we have to take a lot of care to complete. Furthermore, we cannot know how long it will take to complete. And, it is why I sent it one day before the 28 days deadline

Moreover, the purpose of Next Day Special Delivery Service is that the letter is delivered next day and if this is not possible the Post Office should not take the letter because if it does not arrive next day this service loses its purpose. If I would have known that it will not be delivered next day I would not have spent extra money for this service and I would have gone to the DWP office to deliver personally my UC50 Form

We have to make the difference between Recorded Delivery only where there is no guarantee that a letter will be delivered at a particular date and as a consequence it is better trace it in the Internet and Next Day Guarantee Delivery where there is a guarantee that the letter will be delivered at a particular date. It was for me difficult to imagine that my letter will not be delivered next day with a Next Day Delivery service

Moreover, the Universal Credit (UC) is also wrong because it should have informed me that my UC50 Form was considered as being received one day latte and my claim was closed so that I contact it and explain what has happened and I ask for my case be reopened

poppy123456

The problem here is that even though you sent it recorded delivery it still takes a while for it to be added to the system once it arrives with the assessment providers. It doesn’t take as long as it takes if it was returned to DWP but it’s not a same day process or even next day.

You have proof you sent it and that’s all you need.

Peter1

I sent it Next Day Guarantee Delivery but not Recorded Delivery

Peter1

Peter1

Peter1

Peter1

Peter1

Even if I would have traced this letter in the Internet, I would have noticed that it was not delivered next day but this would have made my letter arrived next day

OverlyAnxious

For reference, even the Special Delivery Guaranteed service is not actually guaranteed when you read the small print. All it means is that they'll refund the money to the sender if it doesn't arrive on time. But that is not much use for a letter that needs to arrive on a particular day. For this reason, I never use that service myself, and request that others do not post items to me using that service either. It is a massive waste of money when the Tracked24 service gets items to the destination within the same timeframe.

sou85a

I have had problems with this to. I sent mine in the envelope they sent 10 days before the deadline but it did not arrive and be processed in time. I spoke to someone at the assessment centre and they said was not my fault so keep the case open. Phoned a month later to see what happening and told it is taking 12 weeks to process the forms. When I phoned yesterday after the 12 weeks I was told universal credit needed to re activate my account and I should phone them. The first person I spoke to was not very helpful and wanted me to use my journal even though I was told to phone and did not understand what I wanted. I ended up phoning the assessment people again to get clearer information about what to ask for and this time universal credit understood me and been passed to a manager. But the communication is terrible and I have wasted 3 months because I thought the assessment process was active. I am now worried my account with universal credit will close before I have the assessment.

Peter1

I would like to know if according to date protection law I can make a Right of Access Request to be given the name of the Healthcare Professional who interviewed me during the health assessment interview for my UC claim

I think that I have the right to know the name of my JP so why not also the name of this other Healthcare Professional

Kimmy87

If you ask for a copy of the assessment report, the assessors name should be on there.