DWP recovery from estates

Rufty1

Hello lovely people.
My Mom passed away a year ago.  After probate was granted in April I received a letter from  recovery from estates saying they believed too much benefit had been paid and requesting some information.  I had another letter just before Christmas asking about who lived in the house.  Mom received benefit - Pension credit after being assessed in 2017 following a leg amputation.  She went into full time care in October 2020 and received attendance allowance before and after that date.  I am told the reason for the investigation is the amount of savings Mom had in 2017 and at probate were different.  Probate was higher as Mom couldn't spend much after she went into care, although a relative tried to keep the amount down by spending about £1k a month (that's another story as I only found out after death).  I only have bank records going back 6 years so do not know how much she had in 2017, but she was a retired cleaner so didn't have much.  Also, a loan was taken out against the house to help pay for her care & that loan has been repayed.

Does anyone know what the savings thresholds were on 2017 and since?  Has anyone successfully challenged a request for repayment?  With the fear of having to repay benefits plus inheritance on the £1k a month for the last 6 years I have great concerns that I'll have to raid my savings for the bills.

marcia_

Rufty1 said:

Hello lovely people.
My Mom passed away a year ago.  After probate was granted in April I received a letter from  recovery from estates saying they believed too much benefit had been paid and requesting some information.  I had another letter just before Christmas asking about who lived in the house.  Mom received benefit - Pension credit after being assessed in 2017 following a leg amputation.  She went into full time care in October 2020 and received attendance allowance before and after that date.  I am told the reason for the investigation is the amount of savings Mom had in 2017 and at probate were different.  Probate was higher as Mom couldn't spend much after she went into care, although a relative tried to keep the amount down by spending about £1k a month (that's another story as I only found out after death).  I only have bank records going back 6 years so do not know how much she had in 2017, but she was a retired cleaner so didn't have much.  Also, a loan was taken out against the house to help pay for her care & that loan has been repayed.

Does anyone know what the savings thresholds were on 2017 and since?  Has anyone successfully challenged a request for repayment?  With the fear of having to repay benefits plus inheritance on the £1k a month for the last 6 years I have great concerns that I'll have to raid my savings for the bills.

 Don't do that. Your mums debt is not your debt. If there is no money left of your mums just tell them so 

 I received a letter from the DWP when my sister died. She left nothing so i just put the letter in the bin, didn't phone them and they have never sent another letter. 

Keep_pedalling

Once your mother moved into care the value of her home would probable have disqualified her from claiming PC any longer. Prior to that it would have been based on any savings she had.

p00hsticks

One possibility...

Even though it sounds as if your mum was self-funding in care (from the fact that she continued to get AA) I imagine that a financial assessment was done at the time she went in in 2020, which would give some idea of what she had in savings at the time, if you can find a copy (it would have been submitted to by the local authority)

badmemory

It really is a pity they don't seem able to be more prompt.  When did she stop receiving pension credit & what were her savings then.

Rufty1

p00hsticks said:

One possibility...

Even though it sounds as if your mum was self-funding in care (from the fact that she continued to get AA) I imagine that a financial assessment was done at the time she went in in 2020, which would give some idea of what she had in savings at the time, if you can find a copy (it would have been submitted to by the local authority)

I think she was self funding.  My sister dealt with it all and has since shredded everything.

Rufty1

badmemory said:

It really is a pity they don't seem able to be more prompt.  When did she stop receiving pension credit & what were her savings then.

From the bank statements it looks like she received pension credits until she died.

Rufty1

marcia_ said:

Rufty1 said:

Hello lovely people.
My Mom passed away a year ago.  After probate was granted in April I received a letter from  recovery from estates saying they believed too much benefit had been paid and requesting some information.  I had another letter just before Christmas asking about who lived in the house.  Mom received benefit - Pension credit after being assessed in 2017 following a leg amputation.  She went into full time care in October 2020 and received attendance allowance before and after that date.  I am told the reason for the investigation is the amount of savings Mom had in 2017 and at probate were different.  Probate was higher as Mom couldn't spend much after she went into care, although a relative tried to keep the amount down by spending about £1k a month (that's another story as I only found out after death).  I only have bank records going back 6 years so do not know how much she had in 2017, but she was a retired cleaner so didn't have much.  Also, a loan was taken out against the house to help pay for her care & that loan has been repayed.

Does anyone know what the savings thresholds were on 2017 and since?  Has anyone successfully challenged a request for repayment?  With the fear of having to repay benefits plus inheritance on the £1k a month for the last 6 years I have great concerns that I'll have to raid my savings for the bills.

 Don't do that. Your mums debt is not your debt. If there is no money left of your mums just tell them so 

 I received a letter from the DWP when my sister died. She left nothing so i just put the letter in the bin, didn't phone them and they have never sent another letter. 

They know there is money left as they have seen the figures from probate.  The letter includes a warning to not distribute the estate or I will be personally liable.

elsien

She could still be entitled to pension credit if she was in a care home, as long as their savings stayed below the threshold. which at the moment is 10,000 plus the tariff for anything over that.

But if  a relative was spending £1000 a month to keep below a certain amount – that could where some of these queries are coming from depending on what it was being spent on. It is hard to see how anyone in a care home can be spending £1000 a month on top of any fees.

After probate, what was left of your mother’s estate and who was it left to because potentially any money owed should come out of that. Or from whoever was her appointee if she had one if they didn’t keep the DWP correctly informed. Any errors are on them because they have the responsibility to make sure her benefits have been dealt with correctly. 

badmemory

I do think that something has gone wrong somewhere from a simple maths point of view.  State pension is around £200 to enable a pension credit payment.  Say £90 a week attendance allowance plus maybe £100 pension credit.  That is under £400 a week.  When we were looking at care homes 13 years ago the absolute cheapest was £400 a week.  With only that sort of income then there would not have been any new savings.

Keep_pedalling

elsien said:

She could still be entitled to pension credit if she was in a care home, as long as their savings stayed below the threshold. which at the moment is 10,000 plus the tariff for anything over that.

But if  a relative was spending £1000 a month to keep below a certain amount – that could where some of these queries are coming from depending on what it was being spent on. It is hard to see how anyone in a care home can be spending £1000 a month on top of any fees.

After probate, what was left of your mother’s estate and who was it left to because potentially any money owed should come out of that. Or from whoever was her appointee if she had one if they didn’t keep the DWP correctly informed. Any errors are on them because they have the responsibility to make sure her benefits have been dealt with correctly. 

elsien said:

She could still be entitled to pension credit if she was in a care home, as long as their savings stayed below the threshold. which at the moment is 10,000 plus the tariff for anything over that.

But if  a relative was spending £1000 a month to keep below a certain amount – that could where some of these queries are coming from depending on what it was being spent on. It is hard to see how anyone in a care home can be spending £1000 a month on top of any fees.

After probate, what was left of your mother’s estate and who was it left to because potentially any money owed should come out of that. Or from whoever was her appointee if she had one if they didn’t keep the DWP correctly informed. Any errors are on them because they have the responsibility to make sure her benefits have been dealt with correctly. 

I think it would be impossible to be on PC and self funding at the same time.

Reading between the lines the £1000 a month seems not to have been spent on the OPs mother, I hope they are going to be able to recover it.