Pension credit and savings

Stephanie88

My late father claimed pension credit for 20 years, during that time he had no extra income but managed to save out of his weekly pension because he was old school and scrimped and did without. He had no property or assets just his savings he made in his ISA. The DWP are now saying that his estate owes them money because he had too much saved, doesn’t seem right that he has to pay them back because he decided live a frugal life and save what he was entitled to. I knew nothing of this. Any thoughts?

pmlindyloo

When someone dies and has claimed Pension Credit then they often get a letter from the DWP about overpaid Pension Credit.

What evidence are they requesting?

How much savings are we talking about? £1 for every £500 over £10000 of savings is deducted from pension Credit.

You must also check whether your late father has an Income assessed Period during which time any increase in savings does not need to be declared. This information should be on his latest PC award letter.

This could just be a 'fishing exercise' so you could ask for a statement from the DWP regarding any overpayment.

In the meantime check your late father's bank statements and look for the most recent award letter to see if he had the AIP.

If he does owe money then it would need to be paid back from his savings.

When my mum died I found the DWP extremely helpful.

xylophone

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

would be worth a read.

Mojisola

pmlindyloo wrote: »

When someone dies and has claimed Pension Credit then they often get a letter from the DWP about overpaid Pension Credit.

I had one of these catch-all letters after Dad died because the total of his estate included the value of his house - DWP seem to fire off a holding letter immediately and then sort out the real overpayments from the others in their own time.

It's highly likely that your father had an IAP and it wouldn't have mattered how much he had saved from his income.