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treated inequitably as a result of registering her
husband’s death at a Coroner’s Office, the letter
said:
‘The primary duty of Coroners and their
officers is to investigate violent, unnatural or
sudden deaths of which the cause is unknown.
In carrying out this duty they issue the leaflet
“When sudden death occurs” to alert the
bereaved to the existence of bereavement
benefits … . The Coroner in this case discharged
their duty and sent the leaflet. It should
also be noted that [DCA] has not made a
recommendation to change those procedures
but will “consider” changing the wording in the
leaflet for future publications of the leaflet …
I therefore conclude that there is no evidence
of a clear and unambiguous error by [DWP]
and a special payment award is refused.’
In July 2007 the MP referred Mrs M’s complaint
back to the Ombudsman saying that Mrs M
remained dissatisfied with the response from
Jobcentre Plus. The Ombudsman accepted Mrs M’s
complaint for investigation in August.
What we investigated
Our investigation looked at what information
about bereavement benefit the Coroner’s Office
had given Mrs M and how that compared with the
information she would have been given if she had
reported her husband’s death to a Register Office.
Mrs M said that the difference in treatment
between two groups of people in similar positions
was unfair, and could result in different (and
entirely predictable) outcomes as regards the
benefits to which a bereaved person was entitled.
She said she had not been given clear information
about possible entitlement to bereavement
benefits, and so she had been unaware of her
entitlement to bereavement allowance until the
deadline for claiming the full amount had passed.
Mrs M said she had lost about £1,500 in benefit.
What our investigation found
Given that the complaint we referred
back to Jobcentre Plus concerned alleged
maladministration on their part, it should not
have been necessary for Mrs M to have to ask for
compensation. Jobcentre Plus should themselves
have referred the matter to their special payments
team; their response of October 2006 therefore
showed a regrettable lack of customer focus
and was not in line with the Principles of Good
Administration.
Because Mrs M’s husband had died suddenly
she had to report his death to the Coroner’s
Office. The information they gave her did not
provide a sufficiently clear pointer to her possible
entitlement to bereavement benefit, and did
not include correct information about where she
should claim. Instead, the leaflet When sudden
death occurs merely referred to a DWP leaflet and
said that it explained ‘benefit procedures’, adding
incorrectly that the leaflet could be obtained
from the Benefits Agency of the Department of
Social Security (DWP’s predecessor). None of the
information from the Coroner’s Office referred
specifically to bereavement benefit or explained
that claims should be made to Jobcentre Plus,
or that the DWP leaflet could be obtained from
Jobcentre Plus. By contrast, if Mrs M had reported
her husband’s death to a Register Office she would
have been given: an oral indication of her potential
entitlement to bereavement benefit; form BD8
which included a prompt to claim bereavement
benefit and explained that claims should be
made to Jobcentre Plus; and leaflet D49 which
58 Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009