Pension payout by mistake?

Aylesbury_Duck

Have you (or your friend) contacted the Trustees yet?   It's been suggested or asked six times in the last three months, and you've either missed it or ignored it.  It's possible this may have been sorted sooner.

neil7462

its the trustees that are dealing with all of this

Aylesbury_Duck

neil7462 said:

its the trustees that are dealing with all of this

Thanks.  That's a shame for your friend, because I got the impression that other posters felt that the Trustees might have some sway over reducing the liability.

When you say that payback is negotiable, I presume you mean the payback period rather than the amount?  If so, then surely it's a case of helping your friend work out a reasonable payment plan, perhaps extending the payback period to two years?  There is the ombudsman as a route, but while that would surely reduce the debt a little, it will also add more time into the situation and if your friend is already stressed, perhaps it's better to start the resolution sooner than later.  Ultimately, she owes the money and will have to find it.  Had she not received it in error, she'd have had to fund the mortgage payments.

Marcon

neil7462 said:

My friend has just received a letter stating they want all the money paid back £16826.90 They said that the usual timeframe is when the first payment was made. This was 18 months ago so that is £934.83 a month.

They are ignoring the fact that a backdated lump sum of £15K was paid as well as regular pension instalments, so that's certainly one she can push back on.

neil7462 said:

The reason they said the mistake happened was a person with same first name middle name and surname and date of birth was meant to be the receiver of the pension.
Any suggestions on what our next steps should be would be welcome
They did say that the payment payback was negotiable.
Many Thanks

One thing they wouldn't have had in common was their NI number - and looking back in your thread that was supplied, so question why they didn't check that.

Next step is for your friend to write back with a suggested payment plan, and also float the idea that paying it all back is unreasonable given it was their mistake and she has incurred expenditure she would not otherwise have incurred. The latter point is always tricky to argue successfully - she'll need to give details of the expenditure and probably quite a lot of information about her finances. She also needs to point out how much distress and stress this has caused her, and say she would expect this to be taken in account given that the mistake was entirely down to them.

I'd be tempted to do this using the scheme's own Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (obtainable from the scheme itself). Members normally need to have completed that before the Pensions Ombudsman will take the case. 

Marcon

Aylesbury_Duck said:

neil7462 said:

its the trustees that are dealing with all of this

Thanks.  That's a shame for your friend, because I got the impression that other posters felt that the Trustees might have some sway over reducing the liability.

When you say that payback is negotiable, I presume you mean the payback period rather than the amount?  If so, then surely it's a case of helping your friend work out a reasonable payment plan, perhaps extending the payback period to two years?  There is the ombudsman as a route, but while that would surely reduce the debt a little, it will also add more time into the situation and if your friend is already stressed, perhaps it's better to start the resolution sooner than later.  Ultimately, she owes the money and will have to find it.  Had she not received it in error, she'd have had to fund the mortgage payments.

Mortgage yes - but the bathroom and garden refurbishment mentioned by OP earlier in the thread might not have happened (or not happened when they did, or as 'expensively') without the erroneous payment, and it's that discretionary spending where she needs to focus when complaining. 

xylophone

I assisted a person who had lost her husband with a pension pay-out that she was unaware of and she successfully received it last year. She got a lump sum and receives a monthly income for life.
They had contacted her about it as she wasn't aware of it until then, this was march 2024 and has been receiving an income since, she also received a lump sum of over £15000 as he died in 2020, so it was backdated.

Then this pension is a widow's pension. That is to say the entitlement arises solely because  the recipient was married to a late scheme member.

 We tried to ring the company, but she failed the security question when asked for her date of birth, this is odd as we sent a copy of her birth certificate when we asked to send various documents. It is also marked clearly on the paperwork that they sent to fill in. So we have got to send that in before anyone will talk about the letter asking for the money back.

She didn't know anything about this alleged pension her husband had, but was sent lots of letters with an application form to fill out. She even moved house 2 years ago and the same letter was being sent. The information we sent to them was her husbands national insurance number and hers.  A copy of her passport, driving license and marriage certificate. I was helping her as a work colleague as she wasn't very confident with forms and doing things online. 

The reason they said the mistake happened was a person with same first name middle name and surname and date of birth was meant to be the receiver of the pension.

It seems to me that the fault lies largely with the Administrator.

Did they check the marriage certificate  against her birth certificate? 

Did they check the late member's record of service and NI number?

Does the record of service show that it was pre/post marriage?

Marcon

Except the husband was never a member of the scheme:

neil7462 said:

Not sure if this is a scam or true.
I assisted a person who had lost her husband with a pension pay-out that she was unaware of and she successfully received it last year. She got a lump sum and receives a monthly income for life.
They had contacted her about it as she wasn't aware of it until then, this was march 2024 and has been receiving an income since, she also received a lump sum of over £15000 as he died in 2020, so it was backdated. She has now received a letter to say her husband wasnt in the pension scheme and they will contact her to get the money back! She has paid some of her mortgage off with it so no longer has the money available. Any thoughts would be welcome thank you

xylophone

Thanks - I had missed that point.

But surely that makes the error even more egregious?

Marcon

xylophone said:

Thanks - I had missed that point.

But surely that makes the error even more egregious?

Couldn't agree with you more. As examples of maladministration go, this is a pretty choice example, and I'd expect the trustees to be putting pressure on the administrators (whom they appointed, after all) to come up with a sensible resolution.

Albermarle

Next step is for your friend to write back with a suggested payment plan, and also float the idea that paying it all back is unreasonable given it was their mistake and she has incurred expenditure she would not otherwise have incurred. 

I would suggest that the person is assisted in drafting the letter by someone with some experience in that area. Especially as the OP said 'I was helping her as a work colleague as she wasn't very confident with forms and doing things online. '

In fact if it was me I would take a tougher approach ( initially at least), and not mention much about a payment plan at all, ( or say something like it would be impossible to afford in the foreseaable future, however it was arranged) and then just highlight all their failings/incompetence in a diplomatic but firm tone.