Andreea’s Story

Client profile:   

Andreea* was an EU resident, having retired she moved to England in 2015 to live with her daughter and grandchildren to support her daughter with her ongoing health issues.

Reason client needs advice:   

Andreea was diagnosed with cancer in January 2023 and was referred to our Macmillan Welfare Benefits Caseworker in July 2023.  By this time, she was extremely unwell, and the family was struggling to live off her small income. 

What we have done to help the client:   

Andreea had Settled Status and under the EU benefit rules she was entitled to receive Pension Credit to top up her pension. Our Welfare Benefits Caseworker applied for pension credit in July 2023 and requested the maximum three-month back-date as she had been entitled to Pension Credit for nearly eight years but hadn’t realised. 

Andreea was asked to prove that she was habitually resident in this country. This is something that you don’t usually have to do with a Settled Status, however, her daughter helped to supply all the requested documents to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Sadly, Andreea passed away in the middle of October 2023, at this point, the family still had not heard from the Pension Service as to the status of her claim. 

The relevant authorities were informed of Andreea’s passing in November 2023. When our Welfare Benefits Caseworker phoned the Pension Service, she was told that Andreea had passed the Habitual Residence test and the benefit had been awarded, and they would be in contact. Our Caseworker helped to support the family and over the following two months, and called the Pension Service on six separate occasions to chase the next of kin form, which was finally received by the family in January 2024. 

By March 2024, despite proof that the form had been delivered to the Pension Service, the family had not heard anything, four telephone calls were made from our Welfare Benefits Caseworker to chase this up.  The case was marked as urgent due to the distress this had caused, call-backs were promised by the Pension Service department, but unfortunately, no calls were made. 

The application for Pension Credit had been going on for eight months and our Caseworker had made over twelve phone calls to Pension Credit without resolution. As all reasonable steps had been taken using the usual channels, we requested the help of the DWP Relationship Manager.  

Outcome: 

Due to this intervention, in April 2024 the family received over £5,500 that was owed to them. This was nine months after the original application for the benefit, and sadly, six months after Andreea passed away. 

NOTE: *Names and certain details have been changed to protect the client's identity.