Possible? Attendance Allowance.

LL30

I had a query thrown my way today asking whether it was possible for attendance allowance to still be paid to a spouse when the person it was for passed away 8 years ago. Obviously I know it shouldn't be, but it appears that the claim was never closed after his passing. The details I have are a little murky, but it appears that the person did not tell the DWP at the time - would there have been any automatic systems in place upon his death which would have alerted the DWP? (That even sounds daft as I type it!)Or would it have been down to the person dealing with his estate?

NB, The person who has done this has done it wholly in error (now has a dx of dementia), although I appreciate that this does not negate its fraudulent nature.

dseventy

Claiments need to be caring for many hours a week to qualify and inform of any change of circs.

One would expect a death to qualify.

D70

xylophone

I should think that it is irrelevant whether there were any automatic systems or not - it is still up to the person settling the affairs of the deceased to check on financial matters and advise the relevant authorities.

If the person who has been receiving the money in error has dementia, presumably there is now somebody officially dealing with his/her affairs - that person will have to sort this out.

Torry_Quine

If the claim for AA was not stopped on the death of the recipient then DWP need to be informed as soon as possible to stop the arrears getting any worse.

krisskross

I presume the state pension was stopped. My husband has the 2 paid together once a month so it would be odd if pension stopped but AA continued.

LL30

Xylophone - nail and head! This has arisen because said person's finances are being sorted (POA), and they realised there was a discrepancy (ie they've not applied for AA for the person in question). Now they're trying to establish how it's happened, as they thought there would have been something in place to stop this. I pointed out that the DWP wouldn't have known of the husband's death - but thought I'd double check on here. It's literally just come to light today, and I've said they need to ring DWP asap to sort it out, and not to worry about how it's happened, but to focus on putting it right. I'd suggest the DWP aren't going to prosecute someone with dementia, but I'm quite sure they'll be wanting their money back.

LL30

Krisskross - his AA was attached to the wife's pension, so paid in a lump sum to her monthly. It seems that she thought that meant it was for her

krisskross

LL30 wrote: »

Krisskross - his AA was attached to the wife's pension, so paid in a lump sum to her monthly. It seems that she thought that meant it was for her

Is that possible? I can't believe it was. Why do you think it wasn't AA for her?

LL30

I have no idea. The conversation started because the person (POA) asked me if AA was automatically awarded as they hadn't applied for it for the person in question but she appeared to be getting it. I explained that it wasn't - you had to apply. Later on, we spoke again, and the person in question had stated it was her money she got for her (deceased) husband. Looking back over the bank statements, the same amount has been going in for years. That's when the POA started to get concerned and worrying about how it hadn't stopped.

I've told them to ring DWP, clarify with them the amount being paid so it's broken down (it's definitely not just state pension, it's too much) and then deal with it from there. I've suggested maybe pension credit? But I don't know anything about this in all honesty. They need a full breakdown by contacting the DWP, but I said I'd enquire as to whether it was possible for AA to be continued to be paid after death. It's all a bit of a pickle and POA is worried, but it's best it gets dealt with so repayments can take place if it is AA.

krisskross

We have just this week had letters from the DWP outlining our payments for next financial year. We get this every year. Perhaps one of these letters can be found.

Don't forget state pension can be a lot more than the basic £100 or so. My husband gets almost double basic amount.

dibdabable

I don't see why they'd have attached the AA to her pension, doesn't it seem more likely this is Carers Allowance that she got as she says, "it's money she got for her hhusband". So maybe it wasn't Attandance Allowance at all.