Recovery from estates DWP

AnotherJoe

As an update to this, I did get back a letter from DWP about a month ago replying to my clearly outlined [STRIKE]whinges[/STRIKE] issues with their forms.

To be fair, it did address each [STRIKE]whinge[/STRIKE] point individually.

To be unfair, the reply focused too much on me and not the general points i made and how they would address them.

They did say they would revisit the form (no actual promises to change it of course) as and when the next scheduled update is due, at some unknown date, which is ironic since if you deal with their IT people they are all full of this Agile Programming where you basically change IT systems on a whim, but it seems that to change a PDF form to slightly change a question or put an explanatory note on, can only be done after months of review. :mad:

As for my mothers circumstances, I've had separate communication on that by phone and will post an update next week as thats when they said they would let me know the outcome officially though they did tell me over the phone. I'll wait until i have it official in writing.

They did in between that, send me a letter asking for details of Pension X, and then called me back a couple of weeks later asking for details of Pension Y (because the letter asked for the wrong one). And yes, they also wanted bank details from 2003 ! hahaha. I managed to get back to 2010.

AnotherJoe

OK so here's my update, I'll summarise so people can hopefully see if its relevant to them.

The good news for me is, investigation is ended, no money to pay.

Mum applied for and got Pension credit in 2003.
She died in March 2018.
I applied for and got probate.

DWP RFE sent the usual letter with all the warnings and so forth as outlined by the OP here.
They wanted bank statements and pension details dating back to 2003.
Best I could do was 2010

Depending upon your POV they either checked she really was eligible under the 2003 rules or tried to prove she wasnt, in both cases trying to be able to reclaim. I believe they did this because her current savings were above the PC limit.

Obviously going back to 2003 is somewhat impractical (!!!) and my somewhat cynical view is, because they couldn't prove for sure she was above the limit back then, they decided it must have been OK.

Also, and this will be key to many people, because of her age, she was on something called an indefinite assessment period (IAP). (basically aged over 75) This was abolished in 2016 I think so no one will be going onto it now, but there will be many people dying over the next 20 or so years who will have this AIP in place.

What that AIP means, in summary, is that whatever happens to your financial position, doesn't invalidate the pension credit. In my mums case her savings were above the current limit for PC before they make clawbacks.Pretty much because her spending had dropped to absolute minimum due to ill health. The AIP means no need to tell them of a change in circumstances, and if you do the only possible result is that they are worse and you'd get more. They will not downgrade. As one minister said, "you could win the lotter and still get it".

So, if your relative was over 75 when they went on PC, then as long as the original assessment was correct, they cannot reclaim.

HTH

Margot123

Thanks for the update and enlightening information AnotherJoe.

Am I right in thinking that even if someone has been on Pension Credit before they turned 75, the AIP would still be relevant?
Do the DWP actually write and tell people they have an AIP, or do they just assume they know about it?

Sorry to be a bit dim, these DWP rules are confusing for anyone.

AnotherJoe

Margot123 wrote: »

Thanks for the update and enlightening information AnotherJoe.

Am I right in thinking that even if someone has been on Pension Credit before they turned 75, the AIP would still be relevant?
Do the DWP actually write and tell people they have an AIP, or do they just assume they know about it?

Sorry to be a bit dim, these DWP rules are confusing for anyone.

Yes, confusing and ever changing.
I don't know how AIP worked if you were awarded PC before 75 and then turned 75. I think that it automatically kicked in at 75 but that's a vague memory from something I read when I was researching my mums posution (or her estate to be exact). In retrospect it would have been simpler to ensure the cash in her bank accounts was under £10k because I suspect the probate process wouldn't have triggered the investigation then. Note that there's no fraud involved since you can have as much as you want as long as you were correctly assessed when you started, it just (might) stop a pointless investigation.

AFAIK DWP didn't write and tell you but again I could be wrong on that as well.i certainly didn't have any records from that far back to tell you !

Mojisola

AnotherJoe wrote: »

In retrospect it would have been simpler to ensure the cash in her bank accounts was under £10k because I suspect the probate process wouldn't have triggered the investigation then.

There still would have been an investigation - my parents claimed PC and had an AIP and had a letter from the DWP telling them that an inheritance they received didn't affect their PC but I still got the letter after Dad died because the value of his home was included in his estate. They assumed that he been concealing savings and should never have claimed PC.

AnotherJoe

Thanks I did previously speculate if that might be the case and if that was why I got the letter but decided it was more likely being over the £10k
What a complete waste of money in that case, a chimpanzee could rule out cases like that and they could focus on the ones where there might be a case that needs investigating.