Advice Needed

joking23

My father who is an ex civil servant has had his pension being paid for the past 4 years 10 months. In August he received a letter apologising that he had been given the wrong pension amount for the last 4 years and 10 months and they apologise for this inconvenience but would like there 16k back. My father has all copies of correspondence sent by them when he turned 65 but they have stopped the over payment now and are harrassing him for these funds. My father does not have these funds to pay them. He himself is already under stepchange and his household income is structured around the amount he has been getting. Where does he stand legally. Can they demand the over payment back even though it is there fault. My dad is not in good health and has cancer and all this stress is not helping him. comments please.

Brynsam

He would almost certainly succeed with something called a 'change of position' argument (i.e. he has changed his financial position irrevocably on the basis of information supplied to him and has spent the overpayment in good faith, being unaware that it is wrong). Free, impartial and expert help to deal with this from TPAS: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk

xylophone

https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/guidance/overpayments/

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension-problems/making-a-complaint/common-concerns/mistakes-and-overpayments