Pension credit overpayment

Janc

Hi, a bit of background first.
In Nov 2016 my mother was called in for an interview at the DWP. Due to her infrmity and poor health, I attended in her place. At the time I had recently taken out Power of Attorney for mum. The interview revealed that mum had been overpaid Pension Credit for several years. I provided bank statements going back as far as the bank provided and DWP said they were referring the case to the 'decision makers'.
Nothing has been heard since and sadly, mum passed away in Dec 2017. I have a sum of money put aside to pay DWP but need to know if there is a time limit for them to process this claim.

Thanks in advance.
Jan

BorisThomson

Six years.

Are you the executor, and if so have you contacted them to advise of her death? This will trigger them to calculate any overpayment, and the estate should not be distributed until you have this document.

Janc

Six years from the interview or registering mum's death?
I am joint executors with my 2 siblings.
When I registered mum's death the registrar said the DWP were automatically informed.
There is money put aside to settle this but we have distributed a portion of mum's estate and we still have her house to sell once Probate is granted.
Thanks.

xylophone

When I registered mum's death the registrar said the DWP were automatically informed.

Even so, the executors should contact DWP ( I would do this in writing) and ask about when the repayment should be made - it is a debt owed by your mother's estate.

geminilady

There is not a time limit with dwp they can still claim years later I would contact them

Janc

Thanks for the advice. I will write to them.

pmlindyloo

Can you tell us why your mum was overpaid Pension Credit?

Was it to do with her savings or not declared income.

I find it unusual that she was interviewed in November 2016 and a decision maker was involved but nothing was heard from them.

Have you checked all paperwork to see if she did, in fact, receive a decision about this?

if it was about capital/savings then it is possible that she had an Income assessment Period with her Pension Credit award where she did not have to report any extra savings and the overpayment was incorrect. An Income assessment Period would have been mentioned on her Pension award letters.

Of course writing to them is the way forward but you could telephone and see if they have anything on your mum's file which would tell you what decision was made. I have always found them extremely helpful.