DWP asking for info after mums death

grummps

Snowy2012 wrote: »

Hi all,

My mum passed away recently (in hospital). She was receiving the highest rate of DLA (had been for many years) along with pension credit etc... She had a Motability car which used me as a chauffer LOL!

For the last 4 months prior to her death she had been in hospital. She had 2 discharges in that period: one for 2 days and one for 1 day - essentially she kept ending up back in.

She eventually died. We registered the death straight away and the registrar informed the DWP. We also closed her bank accounts immediately.

She died peniless - No savings, no assests, no property and no insurances. She also didn't leave a will.

I have come forward as next of kin as nobody else wanted to!

Basically, there was about £400 in her bank (DLA/Pension payments) which has been released and that didn't even touch the funeral cost (about £2000).

Now I have had a letter from the DWP asking for info as (in their words) "This may mean the further payments are due or that some payments issued may need to be repaid".

Here is my question : After receiving the letter I have done some digging around into the DLA rules and regs and it appears that Mum should have told them she was in hospital for so long. However, she didn't. To be honest, she didn't simple because she didn't know of the requirement. If I didn't know then she certainly wouldn't have.

The form the DWP have sent asks for dates of hospitalisation. If I fill this in correctly then they are going to say she has been overpaid for 4 months!

The questions I have are as follows :

1. Can I refuse to fill the forms in on the basis that I simply don't want to ?

2. If I do fill them in correctly, can they come to me to recoup the overpaid DLA etc? Please bear in mind that Mum died completely penniless.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Right, mum died intestate (no will). Someone has to act as the Administrator and have it approved.

Next you have to gather in all of the money that she is owed.

Next you have to gather all of the information about how much the estate owes.

Once you get to that point, the first thing that is paid for is the funeral. If after the funeral is paid for there is no money left over, then tough, no one else gets a penny!
The funeral takes priority.

Have you applied for the death benefits?

cheekyweegit

Was she getting the Extra Amount for Severe Disability premium on along with her Pension Credit? If yes that would also be calculated as an over payment, if not it's something that would be due to her estate.

Have you been issued with a form called a BR330 & a PC10? There is no time limit for backdating the claim for the Extra Amount for Severe Disability formerly known as Severe Disability Premium (EASD / SDP).

The Department of Work and Pensions can if need be contact the hospital for admission / discharge dates so if you're unsure just say to them.

The DLA / EASD is stopped on the 29th day after hospital admission. This does not need to be continuous days, but days which link within a 28 day period.

For example if someone went into hospital on the 1st of June for a week then got out on the 8th June, there would be no change to their benefits. (7 days in hospital)

But if they went back in 21st June until today 12th July, linking would apply as it's been less than 28 days since discharge so it counts as a continuous period. Hopefully that makes sense and Disability benefits such as Attendance Allowance / DLA / EASD would stop on the 29th day.

To be reinstated, you need to contact the Disability and Carers Allowance Unit to let them know of the discharge or you could lose out on benefits as they do not need to back date them to your discharge date.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

Snowy2012

Whiteknight wrote: »

As others have said she did not have the money when she died so how can it be paid back but that is no excuse to be obstructive.

It's not a case of being obstructive. It's a case of not wanting to get involved and spend any more of my time answering queries and questions from a government agency that I have no need to deal with.

Whiteknight wrote: »

Personally I think the family helped themselves to what they could when they could.

Personally, I agree with you in a way! I know my family members well and I know that they wouldn't have "helped themselves" but I also know that my Mum would have given it away (without being asked for it). I also know (from experience) who got the bulk but have no proof whatsoever and don't want to split the family up so don't wish to get involved!

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Not completing the form makes you look guilty and they will continue to hound you.

I take your point but I just don't get how I can look guilty by not wishing to get involved when, if I understand it correctly, there is no legal requirement for me to fill in the form or even answer them!

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Who paid the rest of the funeral cost? Was there a policy or something?

We all did (the family).

Icequeen99 wrote: »

I would suggest that you just fill in the form and give the DWP the information they require, otherwise you will find your situation far worse than it is now.

I don't understand how - Do I have a legal obligation to fill in a form for the DWP? I just don't know!

grummps wrote: »

Right, mum died intestate (no will). Someone has to act as the Administrator and have it approved.

Nobody want's to do it!

grummps wrote: »

Have you applied for the death benefits?

I looked into applying for help with funeral costs but we weren't eligible.

cheekyweegit wrote: »

Was she getting the Extra Amount for Severe Disability premium on along with her Pension Credit?

I'm not sure (but I don't think so).

missapril75

Snowy2012 wrote: »

it appears that Mum should have told them she was in hospital for so long. However, she didn't. To be honest, she didn't simple because she didn't know of the requirement. If I didn't know then she certainly wouldn't have.

This is a general question. There's tons of literature issued to applicants advising what changes need to be reported - with the original information packs, the original award notices, every time an award is revised, every annual uprating, other mail inserts etc.

But I have a question to those in the know:

Every girocheque, every order in every payment book (along with the pages therein), every weekly form O7, regular signings at the job centre, every signature for receipt of a personal issue giro etc etc included a declaration that circumstances had not changed since a previous declaration except where the change had been advised.

With payments now going into the bank and not needing a signature of any kind has the DWP done anything to make up for all those lost opportunities of reminding people what they need to report?

Of course, those people who used to be paid by those methods should remember it - the declarations even said "I have read and understood the yellow pages in my book" so it's not like you could miss it.

But is there a whole bunch of people not seeing this as often as people used to and, maybe worse, are there people who used to get that but now that they don't, think this is because it's now different and they don't need to report changes?

grummps

Snowy2012 wrote: »

!



Nobody want's to do it!

Unfortunately someone has to!!

You simply cannot just ignore the requests for information, money and documents.

It is quite simple and when I get chance in the morning I will try to find a website (HMRC I believe) that gives a lot of help and advice.

The option of not doing anything just isn't there to take

xylophone

What has happened to the Motability car?

YesWillMan

Someone else mentioned that you can write to all concerned that there were not enough funds to repay any monies or pay any debts which have been accrued. Well I would suggest this is what you do as I did this when my father died. I sent them a letter showing what monies were in his estate (not a lot I'm afraid) and what the funeral amounted to which was more than the total monies due. I sent this to the banks and credit card companies and they all agreed to write off the respective debt.

He had not made a Will and my mother was not on any joint account.
Fill the DWP forms in with the letter as suggested above.

Do not send any statements unless they ask for them.

lindatrix

why not just ring them up and speak to dwp and tell there is no money for any overpayment so it cant be paid back..dont go into minute detail how the money was spent. tell them as little aspossible .. your agenda is not to pay anything back.. your obligation was to inform them of her death and you have one that.. its not your fault thier system is inefficient.

lindatrix

ps.. ask if they hav ea department soecifically to deal with breaved relatives.. you may get a better outcome

missapril75

lindatrix wrote: »

tell them as little aspossible .. its not your fault thier system is inefficient. .

Remind me, where was the inefficiency here? I thought the problem arose through information not being passed on. And your recommendation is to pass even less on?

That'll help?