Deceased Brother - DWP Debt Chasing

coupleuk

My 64 year old brother passed away on November 24th 2022.

I used the "Tell Us Once" service which notifies all Government Departments.

An advert was placed in the London Gazette which gave any creditors until February 13th 2023 to make a claim against his estate.

Probate was obtained in May.

I am now being harassed (as Executor) by DWP claiming £343.33 for "overpayment of Universal Credit" for the period 06/11/2022 to 05/12/2022.

1) are they entitles to claim anything at all once the London Gazette deadline has passed?

2) if he died on November 24th, surely he is entitled to the UC paid until that date - so IF DWP are entitled to claim then it should only be 25/11/22 - 05/12/22 - correct?

3) in the demands being sent, there is no mention of an appeals option etc and the only way to contact them is via phone (yeah right) or by snail mail at £1 a stamp every time.

4) does anyone have an email address for DWP Debt Management please?

Thanks

p00hsticks

Sorry for your loss.

I can only answer a couple of those.
1) Yes they are. The London Gazette advert is not a 'get out of jail free' card that automatically wipes out all outstanding debts by creditors.  
4). Very much doubt you'll find one - as far as I'm aware DWP does not communicate with the public via e-mail 

Spoonie_Turtle

2) Universal Credit is paid based on the circumstances at the end of the assessment period.  It appears they are applying this to mean as your brother was deceased at the end of his final AP, he was not entitled to anything for that period.

I don't know if they are correct in applying it that way or not, although being a fairly automated system I also do not know if anyone would have the power to override it in this sort of situation.

I'm sorry for your loss and hope you are able to get definitive answers soon to be able to end this particular stress.

maisie_cat

MIL died in December and while putting probate together I established that the estate owed DWP £1200 in overpaid AA and state Pension. 
I gave DWP the information and agreed with FIL that should they ask for it that he would pay it himself as the beneficiary. They haven't asked us for it yet but they have time
Ask them to give you the detail and challenge it if it's wrong, but the estate will need to repay anything genuinely owing.

fryedslyce

coupleuk said:

My 64 year old brother passed away on November 24th 2022.

I used the "Tell Us Once" service which notifies all Government Departments.

An advert was placed in the London Gazette which gave any creditors until February 13th 2023 to make a claim against his estate.

Probate was obtained in May.

I am now being harassed (as Executor) by DWP claiming £343.33 for "overpayment of Universal Credit" for the period 06/11/2022 to 05/12/2022.

1) are they entitles to claim anything at all once the London Gazette deadline has passed?

2) if he died on November 24th, surely he is entitled to the UC paid until that date - so IF DWP are entitled to claim then it should only be 25/11/22 - 05/12/22 - correct?

3) in the demands being sent, there is no mention of an appeals option etc and the only way to contact them is via phone (yeah right) or by snail mail at £1 a stamp every time.

4) does anyone have an email address for DWP Debt Management please?

Thanks

You could send an email to legal.queries@dwp.gov.uk, informing them of the above.
Have a read of this, Chapter 7.21 onwards:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-overpayment-recovery-staff-guide/benefit-overpayment-recovery-guide#chapter-7--recovery-from-estates-rfe

Alice_Holt

Spoonie_Turtle said:

2) Universal Credit is paid based on the circumstances at the end of the assessment period.  It appears they are applying this to mean as your brother was deceased at the end of his final AP, he was not entitled to anything for that period.

I don't know if they are correct in applying it that way or not, although being a fairly automated system I also do not know if anyone would have the power to override it in this sort of situation.

I'm sorry for your loss and hope you are able to get definitive answers soon to be able to end this particular stress.

       Remarkably, this does appear to be the case.

     I found this info posted on Rightsnet by a forum member:

   "  Debt and deductions after death
If a payment is made to a single person after they have died, the payment is automatically classed as an overpayment. No overpayment decision is required and the overpayment should be referred to Debt Management.
If an overpayment is caused because one member of a couple dies, an overpayment decision should be made as usual. The overpayment will be recoverable from the surviving partner.
An overpayment of housing costs paid direct to a landlord can occur due to the death of the claimant.
The overpayment is only recoverable from the landlord if they had failed to disclose the death of their tenant. An example is if they were aware of the death and failed to report it. Otherwise, the overpayment would be recoverable either from the estate of the deceased or any surviving partner of the Universal Credit claimant.
The death of a claimant is a relevant change of circumstances affecting entitlement to Universal Credit. When a single claimant dies there are no further payments due. For the purpose of the award calculation, the death is treated as if it occurred at the beginning of the assessment period."


  The OP might wish to involve their MP in a plea to the DWP to use discretion and not recover the UC monies (particularly, if say, the remaining estate was insufficient to pay funeral costs).

 Also the absence of appeal rights on the DWP letter might be as a result of this being deemed an automatic overpayment with 'no overpayment decision required '.


  I do think involvement of the MP is worthwhile as this (inhumane) UC legislation is at odds with the treatment of other benefits at death (for instance the Carers Allowance run on), and its impact could usefully be brought to the attention of those who actually legislate the benefit laws.
Perhaps copy the letter to the Sec of State and the shadow Sec of State?     

coupleuk

Thanks for all of the comments.

Following further research it appears that IF BOTH probate had been granted AND the Estate had been paid out, then DWP would NOT be entitled to repayment - though if assets are later discovered then legally DWP should be paid from them.

So, I cannot dispute the demand.

However - the demand is for repayment of 28 days UC - which includes 18 days UC he was entitled to while he was alive.

I have written a cheque for the 10 days of UC that went into his bank after his death and advised them to detail how that is incorrect if they believe the full 28 days is due back.

For what its worth, I have also explained that I'm not paying £1.10 for every stamp I have to buy to keep writing to them when they cant even explain what the "overpayment" is for and how it was calculated - I have insisted they provide an email address so this can be sorted both quickly and cost-effectively (for me and the public purse lol)

I also suggested that sending letters through the post that arrive 10 days after the date on the letter and only 4 days before their "pay by" date is laughable.

coupleuk

Alice_Holt said:

  The OP might wish to involve their MP....


  I do think involvement of the MP is worthwhile ...  

My MP is utterly useless and, due to forthcoming boundary changes, won't be my MP soon so isnt concerned - the good news is that even a boundary change won't stop him being kicked out on his £$%^ next year.

Newcad

Correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

Is their 'generic' catch-all email address. (But they don't want people to know it - presumably so that it doesn't get swamped with enquiries and complaints).

I have used it a couple of times in the past and my email was re-directed to where it needed to be.

The risk is always that if it starts to get used too much then instead of designating more staff to handle that increase they will just change the address (or make it 'approved" senders only).

Morglin

It might be worth reading this advice from Martin Lewis:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/dwp-has--no-legal-power--to-force-you-to-repay-pension-or-benefi/