Notts. County Council

Banking & Financial
1

Couldn’t run a pissup in a brewery.

On June 3rd, the day after Fran died I dug out our ‘Death’ file to make sure I did all the things I was supposed to which included contacting her pension providors.

I rang Newcastle and a nice lady sympathised, took all the details and said there was nothing more for me to do but I might get a communication in the fulness of time in case I am entitled to a widower’s pension.

More or less the same thing at NCC where Fran spent the last dozen or so working years of her life, but where the stress of spending night shifts totally alone in a care home for the elderly, with all the awesome responsability that that brings, caused her to retire early on health grounds.

Except for one thing, whoever I spoke to on that day cocked it up completely with the result that her pension came in again right on time at the end of June. They must have sacked her with all the rest of the answering service because I haven’t been able to talk to a human there since.

So I emailed them that I thought a mistake had been made and gave the details. A couple of weeks later I received a letter saying that they knew nothing of Fran’s demise and so I must pay back the 1 month’s pension sent in error. The letter went on to say that there would be an invoice sent and that I must pay it otherwise action would be taken against me to recover the money.

Cheeky bastards, I thought, but settled down to await the invoice. It came yesterday and gave me 4 ways to do it. Bank transfer, debit or credit card by internet, or by cheque. I tried to transfer the money today but my English bank would not accept their bank details which I had recorded to the letter, and number. Same with the online account they gave me for the debit card. So I rang them, an 0300 number, is that a freephone line which probably can’t be dialled internationally? A disembodied voice led me through 4 options to choose from, none applied so I waited during the silence at the end for the one person left in County Hall to speak to me. Instead of that the phantom returned and led me though all the numbers again, so with a muttered expletive I cut the call.

Oh, nearly forgot, the 4th option was to go there in person. Fat chance, I wouldn’t go to that empty place if I still lived just down the road. There are no cheques left in my cheque book, I have only written 2 cheques in the last year and I am certainly not going to order another one just for them.

I will try again on the phone tomorrow and if that fails I will send them a letter explaining why I am unable to rectify their mistake.

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2

Perhaps this info will be of use; (from the Notts Pension website)

All other queries:

0115 977 2727 - option 3 then:

  • option 1 - to report the death of a Local Government pensioner
  • option 2 - if you have a query on your pension payslip
  • option 3 - for the teacher’s scheme
  • option 4 - to speak to someone in the Pensions Office

Post

For postal correspondence our address is:

Pensions Office
Business Services Centre
County Hall
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7QP

3

Did their letter end with the honorific 'Your humble servant?

4

Yes, thank you Robert, that is the number which appears at the head of the invoice (not a letter @Jane_Williamson, just an invoice) and the one that I will try this morning, but the number they say I am supposed to ring to pay is the 0300 number I mentioned before.

Not sure why you recommend option 3 though, she wasn’t a teacher but a care assistant, albeit one who was overloaded with responsability to the point of mental exhaustion,

I think I will go for option 4 and if I find a human there will offer to pay the money.

Your post prompted me to go back and look at our DEATH file and there is a different number entirely there which is the one I called to report her death. Also there is a reference number given to me by the person who took the call on the 3rd of June, so if there is any further difficulty and I have to write to them I have proof that her death was reported correctly.

Also, and I have to thank you for this too, I found there our French cheque book which I have been searching everywhere for in order to pay the hedgeman who came to cut our hedges on Monday. I knew the last time I used it was on the 3rd of June when I paid for our grave at the Mairie. Obviously, as I had used it in connection with a death, I put it back in the bulging file which concerns everything about it. :roll_eyes: :rofl:

5

Good luck.

6

I think that I have perhaps confused you. From my reading of the info I believe that having dialed the phone number you have to select Option 3 from the initial menu, and then select Option 4 from the second menu that will then present itself. Hopefully that will connect you to a human being although they certainly don’t make such a thing easy these days.
It’s one of those ‘new and improved’ services, but they never say for whom it is better. Themselves, I suspect.

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I can see why I got it wrong now. I haven’t rung them yet as I have spent several hours mending my gate before the sun came over the trees and fried me. So I will give them a try in a few minutes, after their lunch break.

Been listening to Radio 4 and a woman who was swindled out of £80,000, and it set me thinking, do I really want to give my credit card details to these numpties and perhaps ask a family member in Nottingham to go round there and pay in cash. :smiley:

8

If it’s possible to do that, why not?

9

Because it is an imposition to have to get a bus or tram into town if they are not going there for something else, then I have to find a way to pay them other than by cheque.

Sorry if that sounded a bit abrupt Angela, I know you are trying to help, but I am very angry at the moment. I have just spent 12 minutes on the phone, passed through no less than 6 different recorded voices with 4 choices each time, on the third transfer I spoke to someone who said that it was nothing to do with him and that he would transfer me to Julie who dealt with such stuff. I was then transferred to yet another list of options and then finally to a lady, a real one, who said she didn’t know anything about this stuff and would get a member of ‘the team’ to ring me back.

Before ringing I tried once more to pay online and then by ‘special’ number but on both occasions it refused to accept the details I gave such as invoice number etc.

45 minutes after setting out yet again to rectify their mistake I am slowly calming down, but I am still so angry. If they don’t ring me back I will simply write a letter, a real one, setting all this nonsense out and invite them to send someone round here, by appointment, when I will pay by cash in euros at the current rate of exchange.

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10

I can well understand why you are angry @David_Spardo . I rarely have to have dealings with those sorts of organisations but I certainly got very fed up to say the least when trying to sort out the umpteenth useless set of tossers my pension got sold on to…

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@David_Spardo

Hi David, reading your post I’ve just realised your wife Fran has died - my apologies I haven’t read the thread 'French social care for the elderly for a while. I’ve now read it and if it is not too late would like to also give you my sympathies and condolences.

I also thought everyones messages, and your tribute and photo’s were very moving.

I’m so sorry you now have to deal with this useless council and its bureaucracy - they should be far more sympathetic in their dealings with you.

I also contributed to a council pension scheme, and am fairly sure it will provide a widower pension - the site says there is no longer an expression of wishes needed. I think it might be 25% of the pension. I’m thinking Council pension schemes are all quite similar in the benefits provided. I do hope the Council will be more proactive in that regard and in their dealings with you.

Once again, apologies for my delayed sympathies to you.

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Thank you, but absolutely no apologies necessary, not everybody reads everything and, in fact, I have said before that I sometimes felt guilty at almost overwhelming that thread, so I quite understand that many would avoid reading it.

On the current situation regarding them overpaying her pension despite having received notification of Fran’s death to their dedicated pensioner death line, within 36 hours of it happening, perhaps, if you are right about a widower’s pension of a quarter of the original, I might suggest holding back on that for 4 months before paying it to allow them to catch up. :wink: :thinking:

On that score, my phone has always been with me today and it has not rung. I’ll give them a few days before writing that letter. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not allowed to ring a foreign number.

13

Absolutely no need to feel like that David. The thread has been valuable on so many different levels, for me at least and I’m sure others: your sharing of your life, openly and honestly meant that I learnt so much about what are the day to day implications of living with someone with dementia, what support and care is available within the French health service, witnessing your courage and love and also your frustration and also seeing the help, support and practical suggestions from people on SF.

That thread is inspirational.

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14

Good one David. Just keep every contact or attempt to deal with them documented, as you are doing.

A few years back an agent answering calls to HMRC told me that as the matter was urgent the only way to accelerate a response would be if I raised a complaint. I said I was reluctant to but was told bluntly nothing would happen otherwise. In 48 hours I got a call and 24hrs after that the needed papers were sent.

Funnily enough the same thing was said to me by another govt dept around 2017 and was also true then. I had to complain just to get it looked at even though they had ignored prompt profeasional correspondence on an issue weeks previously. A complaint about them not meeting their own service standards (again reluctantly submitted) resulted in a swift practical solution.

Jus’ sayin’ …

15

Thank you Sue, as always you are very kind. But this has prompted me to look back at the start of that thread, almost 3 years ago by @strudball. I have read the first dozen or so comments and even then I could see that I was a little worried that it was becoming all about us. But then it was open to others and Strudball did assure me some time later that he started it to find out for himself the facts of elderly care in France and on that score he was being very well educated.

@KarenLot, yes I do have a record of the last few days and even a reference number given to me on the 3rd of June by the person at the council who took my call and assured me that it had been noted and that there was nothing more for me to do.

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16

I was just thinking the same. Many workplace pensions (my O.H included) have a provision for a part of the pension to be provided to the spouse. In our case it’s 50%. It’s worth asking the question as it may not be automatic.

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17

Absolutely. The contributions have been made in the past and so the benefit should be claimed.

18

It’s the ‘asking’ that might prove problematic with these loons and I am not willing to make any more phone calls to them but, if they call me back in the next day or so I will bring the matter up and also, if they don’t, I will mention it in the letter I will write.

19

I can’t add much to @SuePJ 's absolutely spot on words above, except perhaps to reinforce that no way was I avoiding the thread, I read most of your posts through the years with great interest and felt I could really empathise with you both - my partner’s mum developed dementia over that period and is now in a home. I saw in fact your last post before your wife’s sad passing was 12 February, so I guess I must have simply not spotted the latest posts.

As Sue said, please do not have any bad feelings at all about your posts, in fact I think everyone would agree it was totally right that it really kind of became your diary of sorts and I hope you come to see that part of the thread as a beautiful tribute to your late wife.

Best wishes.

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Thank you again, and I realised that I had made a bad choice of words using ‘avoided’ I thought I had gone back and changed it, but I’m sorry to say that happens increasingly frequently these days.

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