Dwp reclaiming pension credit after death

Buddy_1

Hi, my first post here. Here is my question.
My mother sadly died in October. She had been in a care home for 3 years. We sold her house 3 years ago and the money was held in her account to pay her fees. My sister and I had power of attorney. When she died she had savings of £90000. We settled all bills and repaid DWP when they asked for overpaid attendance allowance and state pension. This week I have received a letter regarding Pension Credit which she had been receiving for some years as she had no savings when she lived at home. I did tell Dwp when the house was sold but they didn't do anything. Shall I just fill in the forms they sent asking all her financial details and expect them to reclaim a lot of money?
Thanks

lld01

Letters like the one you would have recieved are routine - you will need to reply to it, yes. If you informed the Pension Service as soon as your mum went into the nursing home, and then later informed them as soon as the property had been sold then I wouldn't worry as any overpayment wouldn't be recoverable.

pmlindyloo

lld01 wrote: »

Letters like the one you would have recieved are routine - you will need to reply to it, yes. If you informed the Pension Service as soon as your mum went into the nursing home, and then later informed them as soon as the property had been sold then I wouldn't worry as any overpayment wouldn't be recoverable.

Letters like this are routine but..........

I don't believe this is correct. Why do you think it is not recoverable from the estate?

Does the OP have written proof that the Pension Service was informed when the house was sold?

If the claimant was receiving Pension Credit whilst she was self funding in the care home and had savings of £90000 then her Pension Creidt should have stopped. (£1 deducted from each £500 over £10000 savings)

PS The OP's mother may have had an income assessment period where the savings may not have been taken into account but I am not sure whether such a large sum would have been ignored.

lld01

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Letters like this are routine but..........

I don't believe this is correct. Why do you think it is not recoverable from the estate?

Does the OP have written proof that the Pension Service was informed when the house was sold?

If the claimant was receiving Pension Credit whilst she was self funding in the care home and had savings of £90000 then her Pension Creidt should have stopped. (£1 deducted from each £500 over £10000 savings)

PS The OP's mother may have had an income assessment period where the savings may not have been taken into account but I am not sure whether such a large sum would have been ignored.

Obviously there would need to be evidence that the Pension Service were informed. There will either be copies of post sent in to them, or notes on the file regarding a telephone call (of which there will also be a recording). If there is evidence that they were informed and failed to act then the overpayment would not be recoverable. If there is no evidence that they will try to recover it.

A claimant's assessed income period (AIP) ends as soon as they enter a care home, pending a reassessment. If when the reassessment is carried out, there is found to be a property that is up for sale (or any other capital/income expected) then the AIP will not be reset.

I agree it is very unlikely there would be any entitlement to PC with £90k of capital - so either the Pension Service were not aware, or they were and did not take action.

rogerblack

To raise another issue.
Money paid after a change of circumstances that the claimant reports may not be recoverable, if and only if the claimant diddn't know that this money was paid in error.
As the OP had POA, there is no 'mental capacity' argument for not knowing it was paid in error, so they would have to have genuinely thought that they were entitled.

Buddy_1

Thanks for your responses. My mum had an income assessment when she was in the care home and the house was for sale. I have copies of the letters I sent to them advising that the house was sold, but I didn't put any figures in the letter. I am not trying to avoid paying what may be owed, but would rather not!

princessdon

If you told them the house was sold with no figures then how do they know the value?

Surely you needed to tell them so you owe them

It would be different if you said we have £120K worth of savings so please do a PC reassessment.

The income assessment was for Fees so unless you specifically informed PC that she had XXX in savings then I can't see why you don't need to pay them.

Mojisola

Buddy_1 wrote: »

This week I have received a letter regarding Pension Credit which she had been receiving for some years as she had no savings when she lived at home.

I did tell Dwp when the house was sold but they didn't do anything.

So you knew they were still paying her Pension Credit although she had all the capital from the house in her account?

Why didn't you pursue it then?

anmarj

Buddy_1 wrote: »

My mum had an income assessment when she was in the care home and the house was for sale. I have copies of the letters I sent to them advising that the house was sold, but I didn't put any figures in the letter. I am not trying to avoid paying what may be owed, but would rather not!

Pension Credit do not do income assessements, they are done by Social Services to assess eligbility for funding. Pension Credit would of sent out a complete review form for her move to the care home for a benefit review, did she get one of these forms provided they were notified? If you did not put what she sold the house for and what she actually got then how do you expect them to deal with it?