Improvements through customer feedback

We take your complaints very seriously and aim to improve our services as a result. Here are some examples of what we have done to make things better for our customers.

Examples of your feedback

State Pension leaflet

The invitation to claim State Pension (leaflet BR33) told me to phone a 0845 number, but when I phoned, I heard an automated message directing me to a new 0800 number.

We have changed the BR33 leaflet by deleting the old number and including the new correct number.

Directgov website

The Customer Charter on the Directgov website was outdated. It was difficult to find out from the website who to contact to make a complaint.

We have updated the Directgov website and included a link which directs customers to where their complaint should be sent.

Notifying us of a change in circumstances

You were not aware that you had to inform us when you got divorced. This is a change of circumstances in relation to your Pension and could result in a loss of Pension arrears.

Annual advice notes were updated to prompt customers to report divorce as a change of circumstances. This is in order to ensure they reported this in time to receive their full arrears.

Duplicate Pension forms

You told us that you were being sent duplicate Pension forms after you had already requested and received the forms previously.

To prevent duplicate forms being issued, we have now introduced a system which ensures we record all enquiries and requests received from customers under UK State Pension age.

Handling complaints

You told us that you were not always happy with the way we handled your complaints.

We have tested a new way of handling complaints and you have said you like what we are doing. During 2010/11 we will be adopting this new process throughout the Pension, Disability and Carers Service.

Why do you include bank details on advice notices?

Details are now no longer shown – and complaints have reduced dramatically.

You don’t always deal with my query sensitively

We are carrying out training with staff to help make sure they handle your call appropriately and with empathy.

You sometimes hang onto documents that I’ve sent you to support my claim

We now photocopy original documents as soon as they are received in the office so that we can return them to you immediately.

I wanted to appoint a representative to receive my State Pension forecast on my behalf. It wasn’t clear on the form whether the representative could act for me on any future requests too

We changed the wording on the form to make it clearer that we can only provide information to your representative for the period that your forecast is held on our computer records. If you request another forecast in the future you will need to provide further authorisation for us to discuss that forecast with your representative.

I often find it difficult to get through on the phone

We are working hard to reduce the number of calls that people make when they don’t need to and to deal with calls as quickly and effectively as possible.

Too many people are involved in dealing with my case

Simpler processes and better teamwork means that our contact centre staff are better equipped to deal with your call straight away.

I can’t always contact you when I want to

We have extended our operational hours to provide better customer service.