Pension Credit

steamerman

i had to finish work in 2010 through ill health and was put on pension credit until my retirement date last year,i have recently been told that i owe £4000 to the pension credit due to overpayment which was due to my taking out one of my private pensions early and they say i had not imformed them of this.could someone tell me if i have any recourse over this and if i have to pay this back what would the repayments be per week,thankyou

pmlindyloo

steamerman wrote: »

i had to finish work in 2010 through ill health and was put on pension credit until my retirement date last year,i have recently been told that i owe £4000 to the pension credit due to overpayment which was due to my taking out one of my private pensions early and they say i had not imformed them of this.could someone tell me if i have any recourse over this and if i have to pay this back what would the repayments be per week,thankyou

Did you tell them that you had started receiving a private pension? Have you evidence of this? Did you not notice that you were still receiving the same amount of PC?

Overpayments of PC can be deducted from your future PC. There is a specific amount that they are allowed to deduct if you are still on PC. Not sure of the exact amount - this link quotes £10.65 per week for 2012/2013.

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/information__resources/benefits/challenging_benefits_decisions/overpayments.aspx

If you accept that you did not inform them of your change of circumstances then you need to negotiate with them the deduction from your future PC.

seven-day-weekend

If taking the pension put you over thew income limit for Pension Credit, then you were not entitled to it.

If you did not inform them of this pension, they have every right to ask for the overpayment back.

You need to contact them to arrange a repayment plan.