DWP delay deciding a claim for pension credit

You can use this template if: 

1. your client has applied for pension credit and has not yet received a decision and there has ben an unreasonable delay,
2. your client meets the conditions of entitlement for the guarantee part of pension credit, and
3. the delay in decision has left your client with insufficient funds to meet their essential expenditure.

The main legal arguments in this template are: 

The DWP has a duty to consider all claims for benefit within a “reasonable time” - R(C and W) v Secretary of state for Work and Pensions [2015] EWHC 1607 Admin; [2015] ACD 118.

The duty to decide within a “reasonable time” applies to s.8 of the Social Security Act 1998 under which the DWP shall “decide any claim for a relevant benefit”. Claims for pension credit (PC) are decided under s.8.

What counts as a “reasonable time” depends on the complexity of the case and the impact on the claimant.

Since PC is a subsistence benefit, delays in deciding PC claims can have severe consequences for individual claimants, especially for claimants who would be entitled to additional amounts as a result of:

• having a disability
• being a carer
• being responsible for a child or qualifying young person

Information about your client:

• name,
• address,
• national insurance number,
• date of birth, and
• date reached state pension age.

Background facts relating to your client, such as:

• family details,
• disability, health conditions, any other vulnerability,
• what financial hardship your client is experiencing as a result of the delay, any risk to their being able to afford to pay for their housing, heating or food,
  • any need to use food banks, and
  • any detriment to their health and welfare or to any of their family member’s health and welfare.

Information relating to the decision:

• the date, and how, your client applied for PC,
• what evidence your client provided to support their claim, and
• how DWP have responded including dates and exactly what was said.

We've created this guide to help you successfully use our judicial review pre-action letter templates: Guide to using CPAG's judicial review pre-action letter templates

Once you've finished your letter, please email it to us at: [email protected] before you send it to the lawyers acting for DWP/HMRC/your local authority. We'll try to reply as quickly as possible and will do so within 7 days.