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UK State Pension and Life Certificate

I hope this assists all Brits living in the Philippines. It’s all about the current pandemic and the UK state pension and Life Certificate.

If, like me, you receive the UK state pension and live overseas, you will be aware you are sometimes required to complete a document known as a Life Certificate.

In normal times. you just complete it, have it witnessed and post it back to the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions).  But these are far from normal times with Manila and many provinces on lockdown. That makes it nigh impossible for the likes of PhilPost, LBC, and DHL to function normally. There are no domestic flights so international mail cannot be flown to and from Manila in the normal way.

Trying to find a solution to this was a nightmare. I had no help whatsoever from  UK Government website or the British Embassy in Manila. To make matters worse, every time I Skyped the DWP international number, it was constantly busy.

Then I had a brainwave – I Tweeted to @DWPOverseas on Twitter explaining the issue. About four hours later I got this response:

Good Morning

For the security and protection of customer data, we are unable to accept the Life Certificate E-Mailed in under any circumstances

We are able to clear the Life Certificate if a customer calls in and answers enhanced security questions, based on the information we hold on their account.

We can also receive a faxed Life Certificate.

Our telephone number is 0044 1912187777 (option 1)

Our fax number is 0044 1912187021

Regards
@DWPOverseas

I called them once more on Skype using that number above. This time I was delighted someone picked up after a few seconds waiting.

A few security questions later, my Life Certificate was “cleared.” Hallelujah!

Stay safe my friends, expats or Filipinos. We are all in this together.

God Bless!


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Published inBacolod LifeRetiring To The Philippines

2 Comments

  1. Hi! Thank you for info, although I live in the States your info. was helpful. I was looking for a proper mailing address to mail back Life Certificate, there should have been a addresses return envelope with certificate. Alas oopsy!! no such luck. Just don’t want to mail to wrong place as that would cause another 2 month delay. Stay safe!! 🙂

    Regards,
    Veronica

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