Reclaiming pension credit

jolester

Hi,

I hope someone here can help.

My grandfather recently passed and my mum is executor. She has filled out all necessary paperwork to sort out probate and DWP have written to her stating that my granddad had been overpaid pension credit and they want her to provide all his pension paperwork going back to 2003.

We didn't know that he was receiving (or what pension credit was) until my mum received this correspondence from them.

Am I correct in thinking that up until the point he reached 10k in savings he would have been entitled but not after that point? I don't know at what point he did get over 10k but upon death he only had 16k savings.

As there isn't documentation going back to 2003 will the post office be likely to hold this information as I know banks only go back 6 years?

Thanks for any help you can provide

xylophone

Strictly speaking, there is no capital limit as such - it is simply that if the savings are over £10,000, "deemed income" operates.

Every £500 or part of £500 of capital over £10,000 is assumed to give him a weekly income of £1 a week.

If he has savings of £16,000 then he is deemed to receive £12 a week (£624 a year) in income from it.

See leaflet below.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS48_Pension_Credit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

With regard to bank statements, you can only produce what is available to you?

Mojisola

jolester wrote: »

My grandfather recently passed and my mum is executor. She has filled out all necessary paperwork to sort out probate and DWP have written to her stating that my granddad had been overpaid pension credit and they want her to provide all his pension paperwork going back to 2003.

This sounds like the standard letter that the DWP sends out when it looks as if an estate has more money in it than the claimant admitted to.

I got one after my Dad died because his estate included the value of his home which, of course, didn't count as capital when he claimed PC.

One thing to look at is to see if your grandfather had an AIP (assessed income period - it should be on the PC paperwork) - if so, he didn't need to declare any increases in capital that took him over £10k.