DWP want to reclaim £440 after death. Help re joint funds /property pls

Bakewell54

My mother was judged to have received an Attendance Allowance payment of £450 to which she was not entitled. I disputed this as the family had been open and honest, reporting her hospitalisation promptly.
However, despite arguing the case in writing, the DWP still insist that £440 is owed and want to be paid.
Does anyone know what they will do regarding Joint Assets which are obliged to be declared (but which are identified as joint)? And is it wise to declare her assets as the surplus did not leave enough for an outright payment?
This comes under 'Recovery from Estates'.
Would dad be better paying up rather than declaring his funds?
Thank you.

Savvy_Sue

I am sorry for your loss, although I'm guessing it wasn't that recent!

I'm afraid your experience of DWP is similar to mine: although in my case I KNEW Dad had been overpaid, and I told THEM Dad had been overpaid, and they told me it was all fine, only to require it to be repaid several months later! Again, they had been informed promptly both that Dad had gone into hospital, and when he died.

However: I am not sure what the position is if your mother's estate does not have enough in the pot to repay this debt. So, just a couple of supplementary questions: was your mother's AA paid into a joint account? Or into one in her sole name? that might make a difference.

And can your father afford to repay this amount? In our case, repayment wasn't an issue, and there were sufficient funds in Dad's sole name accounts to cover the debt. Even if there hadn't been, I'd have insisted (as executor, and rightly or wrongly) that the debt was repaid from the joint account which had now passed to Mum's sole control, because she could afford it.

monkeyspanner

In my MIL's case an overpayment of AA was written off because the records showed we had informed them. I guess the financial situation is such that they are now obliged to justify all overpayments.

I am not sure about the "recovery from estates" issue but suggest you ring counsel and cares helpline www.counselandcare.org.uk who are usually pretty good for advice on these issues.

hcb42

yes, just repay it , it's not worth fighting the benefits people, if you know you were overpaid