post office mislaid recorded delivery pip form

Hi lianna

They should not stop your claim, if they do then ask for a MR as you can prove they had the information before the cut off date.

This is why we advise all claimants whenever you write to the DWP, send it by recorded delivery for peace of mind.

Gary

Hi liana,
To follow up on your problem about lost mail. Recently I had a similar problem. I sent a client's PIP renewal form by signed post. I posted the envelope on a Saturday so wasn't sure that guaranteed next day delivery would work, so I used 1st Class signed for.
Client hadn't heard anything for a while so I checked the Royal Mail tracking and it said it hadn't been delivered. I phoned the helpline and the advisor said that because DWP get bulk deliveries they don't always sign for everything. Luckily when I finally contacted DWP they had got the form and it was just their delays causing the slow response.
I was told I could claim back the cost of postage since it wasn't properly tracked etc. However this gives no protection when forms etc aren't delivered, and benefit claims are therefore discontinued. I was told by the Royal Mail advisor that you can pay extra to get insurance for not just the sent article, (which for a form itself is a few pence worth of photocopying,) but for consequential loss, ie loss of PIP award if the claim is stopped through lack of form, which might include SDP etc if appropriate. However this was never explained to me at the Post Office and would also cost quite a lot of money. Of course keeping a copy of the PIP form means it could easily be reproduced if the original form is lost, but doesn't necessarily stop problems with DWP.
Another issue is if forms are lost then then a lot of very personal information is also out and about somewhere.
It would be interesting to see whether other B&W members have had problems with Royal Mail.
LL26