Overclaimed pension credit

lasergirl123

Hi,

My mum died recently & had been receiving pension credit (guarantee credit) as well as a state pension. She had have savings of just over £15k & apparently this meant that she should not have been entitled to claim the pension credit.

I have recently received a letter from the DWP debt department asking for confirmation of her savings. Could anyone tell me if they will they be able to collect the overclaimed pension for all the years (I think it may have started in 2004) she received the credit?

She did have an 'assessed income period' for October 2003 to May 2010 so if she had little savings at the start of her claim then will we not have to repay anything?

Thanks

alwaysonthego_2

lasergirl123 wrote: »

Hi,

My mum died recently & had been receiving pension credit (guarantee credit) as well as a state pension. She had have savings of just over £15k & apparently this meant that she should not have been entitled to claim the pension credit.

I have recently received a letter from the DWP debt department asking for confirmation of her savings. Could anyone tell me if they will they be able to collect the overclaimed pension for all the years (I think it may have started in 2004) she received the credit?

She did have an 'assessed income period' for October 2003 to May 2010 so if she had little savings at the start of her claim then will we not have to repay anything?

Thanks

There is no ceiling level for the amount of savings one can have whilst claiming PC, however anything over £10K affects the amount of PC entitlement, for every £500 over £10K, £1 is deducted. She obviously did not tell HMRC about the savings so therefore had an over payment. They can reclaim all the money back which will come out of her estate, however you can ask for proof of the overpayment and how they have worked it out. Sorry to hear about your mum