Civil servants are urging British expats claiming the UK state pension not to ignore ‘proof of life’ forms – because they are likely to lose their pensions if they do not deal with them.
The life certificates are issued to expats in countries which the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) consider have a high fraud risk or where the local authorities do not share bereavement information with the UK.
The DWP has sent the forms out since 2013.
They have a nine-month deadline, and if the original form and a reminder are ignored, the DWP will stop paying the state pension as an anti-fraud measure.
The form-filling is aimed at stopping friends and relatives of a dead expat from continuing to claim their state pension.
The expat receiving the state pension must sign the form and get it witnessed by a neighbour or professional in the country where they are living.
Fraud measure
If the form is late or not completed correctly, its likely pension payments will stop.
“We will assume a pensioner is dead even if they telephone or email us, because we cannot prove that the right person is at the other end of the line or sending the message,” said a DWP spokesman.
“The only proof of life we will accept if the certificate.
“This is taxpayer money and we will do whatever we can to make sure it is not paid to fraudsters.”
Who receives the form often depends on where they live – the DWP explained that the Spanish government automatically tells them about expat deaths, but the French government does not.
As a result, expats in France receive the form, but those in Spain do not.
The DWP has comprehensive information about dealing with life certificates online.
Unfair system
The list of people who can sign a life certificate is the same as that for signing a photograph for a British passport application, so excludes relatives.
Full details about who can sign are also online
Many expats are likely to be asked to complete a life certificate in the run-up to the introduction of the flat rate state pension in April 2016.
Around 5 million British expats are estimated to be living abroad, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Many complain that the state pension system is unfair because their payments are not index-linked, but others receive significant monthly payments that are cut off if they do not complete a request for a life certificate.
I called the international pension center twice for a new form .they said they would email it but have not .
Same here!
The basic State Pension is my ONLY source of income and as pathetic it is I need it to live on.
Of course it’s a scam, even the bloody British embassy in Sweden refused to authorise my signature on the life certificate document. But when I needed an authorised copy of my passport for my British bank the British embassy were more than willing to oblige for a hefty fee.
Conclusion the British embassy will help a bank but not a British citizen.
Raymond Hall.
I am trying to help a friend who needs to submit a life certificate to get his UK pension reinstated. He is retired in Canada and had been receiving the pension up until three years ago. What we think happened is when he moved he did not get the letter requesting the proof of life certificate be done. I have looked for a long time to find on line this form with no success. Where can he get this form? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It may be that “The DWP has comprehensive information about “dealing with life certificates” online.”, but following your link and searching for “life certificate” doesn’t lead to that information.
I guess there’s little chance of “dealing with life certificates online”.
My wife is a Brazilian living in the uk has been to the Brazilian consulate and obtained ,the life certificate and has asked her brother to bring the life certificate to the INNS in Brazil as he is living there but they will not except the certificate only by one who is the power of attorney. Is this correct or can this document be sent via post from the uk direct to the INNS or by email.
As we try to spend three months away from home and the cold wet weather in Normandy in part due to not now qualifying for the Winter Fuel Allowance. The DWP always manage to send out our Life Certs just after we leave mid December.
This involves considerable difficulties getting the forms forwarded onto us, printed and witnessed in another country and returning by post all within the short time frame allowed. It’s just added stress we could well do without in later life.
My pension was stopped in April 2022, several weeks before the deadline, despite my timely return of the Life Certificate. A phone call to the Internation Pension Centre confirmed they had received the document. I was assured my pension should not have been stopped, and told to expect the four weeks arrears with the next payment due in May. This never happened. I wrote in June asking for an explanation and the payment I was owed, there has been no reply.
I accept the principle of the Life Certificate with which I am happy to comply, but the incompetence is quite unacceptable.
The life certificate sounds a good idea on paper but it is full of flaws due to circumstances out of the pensioners control and a costly excersise to both the pensioner and the department . I live in the Philippines and the postal servive is not like the Royal Mail . Today i received two letters dated Dec 6 2022 it is now 23 march 2023 , 15 weeks and 2 days . The DWP have extended their return post time to 16 weeks , So there is a problem as return post appears to be taking weeks if they get return post at all . This also incurrs international phone calls to sort things out at the pensioners expense . When they find out there pension has not been paid . In fact you are at the mercy of the post receiving and returning forms . DWP will not accept documents returned by email . This is a totally antiquated service which was thought up in 2013 which does not work and is costly to the DWP and the pensioner . This is not taxpayers money it is money that you and your employers have contrebuted over the years to make your retirement plesent and the monies contrebuted deposited in a secure locked state and not to be used for other means by the govt and then calling it a benefit So how do you resolve this system ? I can only speak for the Philippines but i am sure this method is carried out in other countrys . Each year a permanent resident from a foreign country has to make a personal appearence from january to the 1st of march for their annual report .to the Beareu of immigration and produce your passport and ACI card which is held on computer and an annual fee paid . The list of UK permanent residents could then be sent to the British Embassy who then send the list in dispatches to the DWP . Anyone who has not turned up for their annual report then the DWP has the right to stop the pension and then post a letter . This could save time and money on both sides and is more reliable that sending post by air mail both ways .
Like many here I have found this page after discovering an issue with the life certificate.
My mother is a retiree who lives in Portugal and has today received a letter informing her that her pension will be stopped as of the 20th of this month for failure to fill in the form. Problem is, she never received the form in question. She has filled out the Life Certificate before and there has never been a problem until now.
The problem with this Life Certificate is that it relies heavily on antiquated technology and on the fact that it relies on a decent post service. Anyone who has ever lived In Portugal will tell you that CTT is a dreadful service. One of the worst post services I have ever dealt with. Prone to losing parcels, packages and letters all of the time.
For three months my mother did not receive her television and internet bill before due date. This happens with electricity and other bills. It is a nightmare.
Today she has filled out the life certificate on the same day that she finally received it and has sent it priority mail back to the DWP. Until they accept it and reinstate her pension. Then she will have no income in another country.
This could be solved if the DWP would accept a copy of the form via Email. They refuse because they claim it can result in fraud. I’d love to see an explanation as to how the email with an official stamp could be more easily faked than a letter. If the stamp is going to be faked then it will be faked on the main letter as well.
They could claim photoshop or other nonsense reason but it doesn’t hold up to reality.
Truth is this is not about cutting out fraud but attempting to deprive pensioners of their hard earned money. In an attempt to cut costs at any limit and to fulfil targets. Similar to how the DWP have treated disabled people over the past decade and a half of this very backward Conservative Government.
Let’s simplify this process. Allow it to be sent and received via emails and end this mid 1900s procedure. We are in 2023 for crying out loud.
I am a British subject resident in the Moscow region.
I need someone to witness my signature on a simple English language form. The form
is a life certificate (IPC SU 698). I need it to continue receiving my state pension, which
payment has been suspended since February 2023.
The problem is that the British Embassy refuse to witness the signature. No Russian will
sign it, whether they understand the English form or not. Apparently under Russian law
they cannot sign it unless it is translated, appostiled, redtape etc. That costs over $1,000.
There is no internet assistance, just plain old fashioned unreliable, letter posting.
What can I do? I understand it to be illegal to suppress a pensioner to receive a state pension, his only form of income survival.
Why such barriers? Why does the Embassy refuse to help their British citizens? What’s going on?
How often are life certificates sent out?
B Prendiville
France
My pension started to be paid in May 2023 and, bizarrely, I was sent a life cert in September 2023. Just four months seems a bit excessive! It was such a hassle to get it signed and stamped by my doctor and then returned via DHL (as that is the only reliable postal service where I live).