NHS overpaid dead persons pension

qwert10

Hi sorting father's affairs after his death and completing Tell it once.

NHS overpaid his pension and want £109 back but his bank account is frozen.

Thought I saw on here you don't need to pay if you informed them.

Any help appreciated.

Allso solicitor told us to send a standard letter to creditors that bills won't be paid till probate is sorted. Is this correct please?

p00hsticks

I'm sorry for your loss. 

There have been some comments on this board in the past that DWP will request but won't push for any overpaid state pension to be repaid following a death, but I'm not sure if there is any official basis for it or if it applies to other private or public sector pensions. Legally I think it will be a debt owed by the estate.

If there is no money available to pay any debts until probate is granted then then creditors (e.g utility companies, mortgage etc) will just have to wait, but bear in mind that they may pass the debt on to debt collectors and there may be interest or additional charges building up. When I was in a similar position I was able to pay the money from my personal account and claimed it back from the estate later. When dealing with large companies, many have specific bereavement teams that can deal with everything in one go so look for their contact details rather than just calling or contacting the general customer service team (I've found that for the most recent death I'm dealing with you don't even have to call them, they have an online form you can complete and they'll call you back if they need any additional info). 

You may find that some money is available almost immediately - depending on the amounts involved not all banks or building  societies insist on probate before handing over the money to the executor or sole beneficiary, and there may be life assurance due and/or refunds from things like road tax and insurance. 

Keep_pedalling

Although the tell it once service is useful it is not that fast, so it is better to inform banks and pension companies directly. The overpayment will need to be paid back.

The bank account may be frozen but unless it contains a very large sum of money in it you should be able to close it and have the money transferred to you, assuming you are the administrator of his estate. Speak to the bank’s bereavement team.  

p00hsticks

Keep_pedalling said:

Although the tell it once service is useful it is not that fast, so it is better to inform banks and pension companies directly. The overpayment will need to be paid back.

Tell Us Once only notifies the various government bodies (HMRC, DWP, DVLA, Passport Office etc), so there is always the need to inform banks and private pension companies of a death directly. 

kipsterno1

Yes the estate will have to pay it back. Have you spoke to them direct? This happens all the time, I doubt they will demand it needs repaying immediately so just deal with it as a debt the estate owes.

Spendless

There is no legal obligation to pay the DWP back if they have overpaid the state pension by continuing to pay after the person has died. Cant remember all details but my Mum refused to pay back the weeks overpayment to my Nan when she died after I read about it on here. 

That wont be the same for overpayments from other pension providers and will need paying back. 

Marcon

qwert10 said:

Hi sorting fsther's affairs after his death a d completing Tell it once.

NHS overoaidhis pension and want £109 back but his bank account is frozen.

Thought I saw on here you don't need to pay if you informed them.

Any help appreciated.

Allso solicitor told us to send a standard letter to creditors that bills won't be paid till probate is sorted. Is this correct please?

Did you specifically inform the NHS pension scheme? Tell Us Once won't have done so.

In any case, I'm afraid they are entitled to ask for the overpayment to be repaid. The bank may pay out funds now if they have sight of the death certificate/will, depending on the amount involved. Otherwise confirm that the repayment will be made once probate has been granted and funds are available.

qwert10

thanks all very helpful.

pjs493

They’ll likely be happy to wait until Probate. I expected my husband’s employer to want money back from his salary because he died just a few days before his monthly salary was paid so I expected to have to pay back those few days. However, it turned out they needed to pay the estate a sum of money because of his accrued holiday pay. 

In any case, I suspect the NHS pension scheme will be happy to wait until funds are released to you so you can pay it back. They’re likely used to this scenario and will likely have a bereavement team you can call to explain the situation to. 

qwert10

thanks pjs very helpful!