State Pension overpayment

cinzano

My Father died in March of this year and I cancelled all his pension/attendance allowance etc. When his Post Office account was closed they forwarded me a cheque for the pension he had not withdrawn(1 weeks payment). I paid this into a joint account we had and then withdrew it some weeks later in order to pay for his funeral. I have today recieved letters from DWP stating that his final payment totalling £180 was an overpayment and they are obliged to ask for it to be refunded.
When I recieved his life insurance, i was £800 short in funds for the final funeral costs so as a family we potted together and paid this but we also used the pension money they want back. Can anyone tell me where I stand on this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

at what stage did you inform the pension people that he had passed away?

baza52

You will have to repay the money.

Oldernotwiser

I agree; you'll have to repay the money, whenever you informed them.

cinzano

I informed that the day after he passed away.

suelees1

baza52 wrote: »

You will have to repay the money.

You will not need to repay the money if it was an official error. Does the letter give you any appeal rights? If it doesn't then they are simply asking for it back and hope you will do this.

shjo558

If you write to them and let them know there were no excess funds in the estate once funeral costs were paid I can't see that they can pursue it.

cinzano

No it doesnt give any appeal rights. It says the overpayment has not been made as a result of anyones fault and they are obliged to ask me to refund the overpayment

suelees1

That means it is an offical error and entirely their fault. I would write back and tell them you are not willing to repay this as you disclosed everything on time