Missing weeks of State Pension

JamesRobinson48

I am executor for my Dad who died on 23 July.  He had been receiving SP every four weeks, the last such payment being received on 4 July. In the ordinary course, the next payment would have been on 1 August, however this was not received due to my promptly notifying the Tell Us Once service of his death.

My question: is Dad's estate eligible to receive his SP for the two intervening weeks prior to his death, i.e. 11 July and 18 July?  If so, can I expect to be contacted by DWP, or do I need to approach them and make a claim?  Or alternatively, does Dad's estate have no right to receive his SP for those two weeks prior to his death?

FYI, the money is of not much concern here, I'd just like to learn the correct answer.so that I can handle this accurately in his estate's IHT forms and Income Tax return.

Spendless

Was he paid in arrears or up front do you know? 

bobster2

Spendless said:

Was he paid in arrears or up front do you know? 

State pension is normally paid in arrears.

@JamesRobinson48 - you may need to contact DWP and let them know you're the executor / personal representative dealing with the estate.

JamesRobinson48

Spendless said:

Was he paid in arrears or up front do you know? 

In arrears. Armed with that information, do you know the answer to my question?

JamesRobinson48

bobster2 said:

Spendless said:

Was he paid in arrears or up front do you know? 

State pension is normally paid in arrears.

@JamesRobinson48 - you may need to contact DWP and let them know you're the executor / personal representative dealing with the estate.

DWP is certainly aware, as they have already written to me separately about Attendance Allowance.

I am hoping that someone is kindly able to directly answer my question, as it must be a very common situation.

Flugelhorn

the estate should have the payment for the 2 weeks - was his account frozen? I wonder if they couldn't pay it?

Spendless

JamesRobinson48 said:

Spendless said:

Was he paid in arrears or up front do you know? 

In arrears. Armed with that information, do you know the answer to my question?

Contact DWP and ask them why its not been paid. Everyone else here is just guessing, even if they hit on the correct answer. Only DWP will actually know why they didnt pay it. 

SnowMan

As your dad was being paid 4 weekly in arrears the estate should be entitled to 3 weeks payment of state pension. State pension is paid in full for the week of death so the arrears should consist of the week of death as well as the 2 weeks since last payment. I rang the DWP bereavement helpline up (0800 1512012) when my mum died and they dealt with it very efficiently. There was a form to fill in to arrange for arrears to be paid, and the bereavement helpline told me that had already been sent in the post when I rang up (because I had used Tell It Once) and that arrived a few days later. 

I filled that form in and then received a letter from the DWP confirming the amount of the arrears due to the estate and the period it covered and the date a couple of days later that it would be paid into the account I had put on the form.

Keep_pedalling

This is very common where it is being paid to sole accounts as the bank will, freeze the account as soon as they know of the death of the account holder. You should hear from them at some point about the owed pension, but if not chase the. Up.

SadCodeMan

I was in a very similar situation to you earlier this year.

To give you an idea of timings. I spoke to DWP helpline just after Dad's death and they were very helpful. They sent me a (pretty simple) form to complete with alternative bank details to pay the residual payment to.
Just a word of warning though - I sent that form back and heard nothing more at all from them until about 3 months later when a payment came in and a letter in the post the next day. I.e. don't worry if it all seems to go dark for a bit!

Mands

SadCodeMan said:

I was in a very similar situation to you earlier this year.

To give you an idea of timings. I spoke to DWP helpline just after Dad's death and they were very helpful. They sent me a (pretty simple) form to complete with alternative bank details to pay the residual payment to.
Just a word of warning though - I sent that form back and heard nothing more at all from them until about 3 months later when a payment came in and a letter in the post the next day. I.e. don't worry if it all seems to go dark for a bit!

My husband was on a 13 week payment schedule and died a week before the payment would have been made, so was owed 12 weeks. I called to inform them of his death and they were able to halt the upcoming payment to avoid and overpayment. 

It then took 6 months for them to calculate and pay the adjusted amount and I had to call and complain to trigger that.