from Hacker News

Retired teacher's pension stopped as provider refuses to believe she is not dead

by brainchild-adam on 1/20/24, 9:46 AM with 156 comments

  • by OJFord on 1/20/24, 10:44 AM

    > The DfE told the Guardian that once a possible match has been identified, the beneficiary may be asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link.

    Well there's your problem. Crapita, I mean.

    And yet it's completely possible:

    > After the Guardian queried the process, the DfE said it would make an exception and decouple McGrath’s name from the deceased’s so that she would not be contacted about it again.

    Even if that was entirely manual...

  • by mrmanner on 1/20/24, 10:36 AM

    > letters make no mention of a deadline or the fact that their payments will cease if they do not respond within 28 days. A spokesperson said this was “to avoid causing upset”

    This is the most stereotypically British thing I’ve heard this year

  • by methou on 1/20/24, 1:05 PM

    Every year my grand parents have to take a photo of themselves holding a recent newspaper with date clearly visible to whoever is managing their pension.

    After the internet and apps plaged the world, now they have to download an app then tilt node and wink to the camera to prove that they are alive. ("If you cannot use a phone, ask your children")

    I have mixed feeling about this, it's hard to say this is not degenerating, and no one's happy with doing this, but seems like there's no better idea that scales.

  • by radiator on 1/20/24, 10:39 AM

    > ... asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link.

    This is a bug in their system. Rather than fixing it, they prefer repeatedly and unashamedly asking old people whether they are dead.

  • by elashri on 1/20/24, 1:00 PM

    This reminds me of one time I tried to get a birth certificate and I was asked a proof that I was born.

    Just to make it clear. Not to prove I was born for those particular parents. It is born in general.

  • by chokma on 1/20/24, 12:14 PM

    Swiss pensions for foreigners are also only paid if the recipient proves they are alive once a year. My father had to sent proof of being alive for decades.

    To be fair, it is much harder to verify this automatically if the recipient lives in another country.

  • by teekert on 1/20/24, 10:51 AM

    It’s sad and annoying but what an opportunity to call the pension provider and say: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
  • by voytec on 1/20/24, 12:45 PM

    > vetting procedure that regularly checks pension beneficiaries against the death register to prevent ineligible payments. According to the Department for Education (DfE), which oversees Teachers’ Pensions, death register entries may be matched to scheme members even if personal details differ.

    Well, that's dumb.

  • by karaterobot on 1/20/24, 3:54 PM

    > She had fallen victim to a vetting procedure that regularly checks pension beneficiaries against the death register to prevent ineligible payments... the beneficiary may be asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link.

    As a consultant, I would be willing to provide a simple fix to this problem for a modest fee. I won't say what it is yet, but I am confident it would work.

  • by ChrisMarshallNY on 1/20/24, 11:03 AM

    Cue the Monty Python skit…

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs

  • by pettycashstash2 on 1/20/24, 12:21 PM

    No recourse to sue for mental anguish? This is like torturing someone to die. Hurry up please and die already etc
  • by thirkle on 1/20/24, 4:56 PM

    I used to work on Capita's pension systems as my first ever job after uni. Hartlink is an absolutely dreadful system, coded in Progress 4GL.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenEdge_Advanced_Business_Lan...

    Thankfully I have since moved on to greener pastures. Oddest thing about Capita is that they are able to recruit a lot of smart, competent young people, but then put them to work on maintaining the most awful systems.

  • by aaronmdjones on 1/20/24, 11:58 AM

    "Huh, why is this even a difficult thing"

    > the beneficiary may be asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link

    ... and there it is. Crapita, the source of all woes, decided to do a just-good-enough job rather than a good job.

    Come on. Even DVLA can handle the case where 2 (or more) people have the same first and last name, and middle initial, and date of birth, when issuing driving licences. They don't mix those up.

  • by nxobject on 1/20/24, 11:57 AM

    Good to know that the keen eyes here found the key hint halfway through the article, at the end of a paragraph: _Capita_. Leeches on the public purse.
  • by sega_sai on 1/20/24, 5:11 PM

    That's the same 'Capita' that had a breach last year: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/04/cyber-attac... -- Why am I not surprised...
  • by crimbles on 1/20/24, 12:44 PM

    Barclays closed my mother’s bank accounts because they thought she had died. It was a “clerical error” ie someone had received a death certificate and processed it with about as much rigour as a 2 year old could muster.

    They sorted it within 5 days though and paid out compensation and sent her a hamper as an apology. Hopefully they fired the moron who kicked off the process too.

    At the end of the day this shit happens but this should trigger a full review and pause all destructive outcomes immediately as mitigation. But being Capita I doubt it will happen.

  • by justinclift on 1/20/24, 12:39 PM

    Sounds like there are some ex-Fujitsu or ex-Post Office staff working at Capita.
  • by jacquesm on 1/20/24, 2:10 PM

    After the post office scandal you'd think that entities like these would think long and hard about their responsibilities towards the people they interact with.
  • by cushpush on 1/20/24, 4:35 PM

    "I'm not dead yet!" - Monthy Python and Holy Grail
  • by bythreads on 1/20/24, 11:55 AM

    Just shows how generally unfathomable weird it is that most of the world does not have a uuid for a person assigned at birth - like the nordics do
  • by codetrotter on 1/20/24, 10:13 AM

    > The DfE told the Guardian that once a possible match has been identified, the beneficiary may be asked to confirm that they are not the same deceased stranger every 12 months since the system, administered by Capita, does not log a disproved link.

    Sounds like garbage software

  • by j7ake on 1/20/24, 10:28 AM

    Ideally we should using technology to do what we intend to do.

    Unfortunately the reality is that technology uses us and makes us do things we normally would consider stupid.