DWP overpayment investigation - timescale?

SpamJam

Can anyone advise if they have been in a similar situation?

I'm the executor of my late mother's will. Probate was granted in Dec 2023 after which the DWP indicated she might have been overpaid on Pension Credit. I submitted several years worth of bank statements as they requested earlier this year, but I haven't heard anything further.

How long do they take to conclude an investigation? Will they contact me if it's found that no repayments are due from the estate? Obviously I can't disburse anything until I know, and I've heard it can take a long time. 

Newly_retired

I think it took my husband about two years to sort his late mother’s account with DWP. A huge amount of information was requested going back many years, some of which was unobtainable, as banks could not supply statements more than 6 years old. In the end nothing was owed. So frustrating. DWP look at Probate figures, which will include the value of any property owned, and conclude( wrongly) that a Pension Credit claim was falsely made. In my mother-in-law’s case, she was on an Assessed Income Period, so any increase in her capital was disregarded. DWP should have known that, and not wasted time and money.
i hope your case is more straightforward and will be settled quickly.

Jowwie

In our case (complex) it was a year and a half from their first contact.

Details https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6487517/more-on-delays-but-not-just-probate/p1

Jowwie

If you have been waiting 6 months or more since you sent in the bank statements it might be worth giving recovery from estates a call?

Think the number I called is 0800 916 0624. Don't expect much info to be given to you. Just reassurance you are still in the queue.

badmemory

I remember reading on here that someone was in a similar position.  As already said the DWP can only see the full value of the estate at probate which may include the value of their house which of course is not counted as part of the pension credit calculation.  All they did was ring and tell them that probate included the value of the property & what that value was.