DWP claiming from estate

cairatom

My Grandmother in law died earlier this year, aged 99. The family have just received a letter from DWP stating that the figures declared from probate are not what they expected to be and are now investigating. (Reading these forums - I see this is not uncommon)

My understanding is that she was transferred from Income Support to Pension Credit in October 2003, at the age of 84, Grandmother in law wrote to DWP in 2003 querying the amount she was getting as she thought it was high, and got a response stating that they had checked the calculations and they were correct. However we now wonder if that inadvertantly she may have not declared £1660 which she held in a Tesco savings account and £47 in Premium Bonds which she had owned since 1956!

From what I can ascertain other than her state pension, and income support/pension credit, they only other thing she ever claimed for was Attendance Allowance (which is not means tested), and was living in her own home right up to her death in May this year.

We have no idea what she declared to DWP or whether it was an automatic transfer over from Income Support and she did not have to show any proof of savings/bank balance. Am I am right in saying that due to her age she would have had an indefinate award on the pension credit, and therefore would not have to declare her savings going forward from that date? DWP have requested bank statements back to October 2003 which we do not have and after requesting from the bank have been advised that they can only go back 6 years.

My initial thoughts are
a) She declared < £4000 and this her means she was under the £6000 minimum savings and nothing would need to be paid back?
b) Assuming that she declared that she had £6000 in savings in 2003 so we would have to pay back £1 per week for every £500 over this so £3 or £4 per week for the whole of the time she was on pension credit (761 weeks @ £4 per week = £3044)
c) Assuming that she had already declared £10,000 savings then she was not actually entitled to pension credit then all pension credit since 2003 would have to be paid back.

Does anyone have any experience with this, and can point me in the right direction - how are we meant to work this out considering we can only get 6 years of bank statements, and have no idea what the starting figures were.

Thanks in advance

konark

What was the final probate figure (excluding her house)? If someone on means-tested benefits dies with more than the £10k threshold in the bank the DWP will investigate, although remember the taper doesn't end until £16,000.


I don't think the money in the Tesco account or the premium bonds will affect things greatly.


The DWP know virtually nobody can get bank statements from 15 years ago and are just being pedantic; at the end of the day it's up to them to prove that money is owed, not you to prove otherwise.

pmlindyloo

Due to her age it is extremely likely that your grandmother in law has an Assessed Income Period with her Pension Credit. This would mean that she would not have to report a change in her savings. You need to check any Pension Credit award letters to see if this is mentioned.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/assessed-income-period

There is no ceiling on the amount of savings you can have on Pension Credit. Any amount over £10000 is deducted at the rate of £1 for every £500 (or part of)

Since your GMIL was receiving Attendance Allowance then if she was living alone and no one was receiving Carer's Allowance for her then she would have been entitled to the Severe Disability Premium with her Pension Credit (about £60 a week ) so that is why the award might have seemed high.

So, as already said, what money did she have other than the value of her house? This is what you would have declared for probate.

The Pension Service is usually extremely helpful so in the New Year the executor of the estate can call them and ask about the Assessed Income period and the difficulty with collecting bank statements. Ask them how you need to move forward. Also, take the name of the person you spoke to, date and time of the call and ask them to send a letter setting out the information/result of the phone call.

calcotti

cairatom wrote: »

My initial thoughts are
a) She declared < £4000 and this her means she was under the £6000 minimum savings and nothing would need to be paid back?
b) Assuming that she declared that she had £6000 in savings in 2003 so we would have to pay back £1 per week for every £500 over this so £3 or £4 per week for the whole of the time she was on pension credit (761 weeks @ £4 per week = £3044)
c) Assuming that she had already declared £10,000 savings then she was not actually entitled to pension credit then all pension credit since 2003 would have to be paid back.

You have misunderstood the savings threshold and how it works.

For Pension Credit all savings below £10,000 are ignored. There is no cut off limit on how much savings you can have and still get Pension Credit. There is simply the 'tariff' deduction from the amount you could receive at the rate of £1/£500 (or part thereof) above £10,000.

Remember also that if your mother was in receipt of Attendance Allowance, living alone and no one was claiming Carers Allowance for looking after her she would have been entitled to have the Severe Disability Addition included in the calculation of her Pension Credit entitlement. Under this year's figures this means Pension Credit would have topped her income up to £227.30/week rather than the normal £163/week (less any tariff income deductions due to savings). This may be why the amount she received was higher than she expected.

From a practical point of view all you can do is provide DWP with information that is available to you. If necessary ask the bank to confirm in writing that they are unable to provide statements that are more than 6 years old.

Mojisola

cairatom wrote: »

My Grandmother in law died earlier this year, aged 99. The family have just received a letter from DWP stating that the figures declared from probate are not what they expected to be and are now investigating.

From what I can ascertain other than her state pension, and income support/pension credit, they only other thing she ever claimed for was Attendance Allowance (which is not means tested), and was living in her own home right up to her death in May this year.

I think you're worrying unnecessarily - the probate value is what prompts the first letter to be sent. That value includes the house so it looks, on paper, as if the deceased had thousands that were undeclared.