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to ensure public accountability was further maladministration. What has been the injustice to Mr Q? But for Jobcentre Plus’s maladministration, he would very probably have been told about the new widowed parent’s allowance in April 2001 and promptly made a claim, as he did when he found out about his entitlement in 2005. Thus, Mr Q lost out on widowed parent’s allowance between 9 April 2001 and 8 August 2005. He also suffered unnecessary delays in receiving a reply to his complaint because of the lack of adequate records. We fully upheld Mr Q’s complaint and concluded our investigation in January 2009. Outcome To remedy the personal injustice to Mr Q, Jobcentre Plus paid him £28,130.92 (equivalent to the benefit he had lost), plus £5,899.01 interest; £500 for gross inconvenience; £250 for severe distress; and £75 costs. They also agreed to apologise to him. The Child Benefit Office agreed to make Mr Q a payment of £500 to recognise the impact of their mistake. We also made the following recommendations, which were all accepted: • Jobcentre Plus agreed to put in place arrangements to ensure that if other bereaved men complain they were not informed of the benefit changes in the lead-up to April 2001, the matters rehearsed in our investigation are taken into account when addressing those complaints and deciding whether to make an ex gratia payment. • Jobcentre Plus agreed to consider what steps they can reasonably take to identify any other men in a position similar to that of Mr Q and to remedy any injustice they may have suffered as a result of the matters we investigated. • Jobcentre Plus and the Child Benefit Office further agreed to consider whether any changes are appropriate to their record management policies or the way those policies are observed and adhered to, in order to ensure that their records can provide the basis for public accountability, such as through an investigation by the Ombudsman. Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009 29
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Page 15 and 16: In January 2006 Mr S’s MP wrote t
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On 10 May 2007 the Agency sent a le
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Because Mexborough did not complete
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an adequate service. In particular,
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