time frame for reclaiming overpaid carer's allowance??

Brie

OH was his mom's carer receiving CA as she was receiving AA.  

She went into hospital last April and never came out except to move to a care home finally dying in Sept.

OH and I both repeatedly told DWP of the dates she went into hospital etc and the CA continued for some time - well beyond when might normally have expected.

OH has now received a notice of being overpaid CA.  It's only about a week or two's worth so not the 4+ months they paid when we kept telling them about the changes in circumstances.  

We're not disputing the fact that it's been overpaid but is there a time limit for them asking for it back?  After all it's 6 months since MIL died!  Everything else from DWP has been long sorted for her so this has been a bit of a surprise.  Mostly we don't want them to suddenly realise they actually overpaid for the 4 months and start demanding that.

tacpot12

No, there's no timelimit.

I think I would call them and ask them to confirm what information was used to calculate the overpayment. I think they haven't used the information that they were given, and this raises the risk that they will realise this at some point. The information he supplied last April might be sitting in a work queue somewhere and will eventually get processed. 

I would suggest that if they haven't used the correct information, your OH needs to move the amount of the overpayment (as best as he can calculate what this is) to a savings account that pays a good rate of interest. If they haven't asked for it back within two years, he is probably ok to spend it, but they could in theory ask for it back at any time and he would owe it them, but they should give him time to pay if he is on a low income. If repaying the amount from his own savings is not going to be an option in future, it would be best to keep the money on deposit indefinitely. 

calcotti

tacpot12 said:

… they could in theory ask for it back at any time and he would owe it them, .. 

They can ask but if they failed to stop payment after being told about the circumstances then that is official error and I think they cannot recover the overpayment.

Brie

calcotti said:

tacpot12 said:

… they could in theory ask for it back at any time and he would owe it them, .. 

They can ask but if they failed to stop payment after being told about the circumstances then that is official error and I think they cannot recover the overpayment.

I think this is the crux of the problem.  As I recall we told them about 4 or 5 weeks after MiL went into hospital.  But they continued to pay for about 4 months despite us telling them repeatedly.  What they are actually trying to reclaim is for the week she went to hospital rather than a few weeks on which is confusing.  I would better understand it they wanted to reclaim week 5 rather than week 1 IYSWIM.

calcotti

Brie said: I would better understand it they wanted to reclaim week 5 rather than week 1 IYSWIM.

When she went into hospital MIL's AA would continue for 28 days and you would still be entitled to Carers Allowance for those 28 days. Being paid CA for 5 weeks while she was in hospital would only result in a one week overpayment.

If you told them at about 5 weeks after she went in they are right to recover that week because they should have been told sooner. Beyond that date any ongoing payment is arguably official error and therefore not recoverable.