DWP Recovery from Estates

[justjean]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

Yep! This is the way it seems to go. Hopefully your case will not be so prolonged as ours. After more than six months the matter has not yet been resolved with the DWP, and the end is nowhere in sight. It's an absolute nightmare trying to get everything worked out. And providing them with all the details they have asked for is proving to be impossible.
Good luck...... and let us know how it all goes.

[geedee0520]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

We have subsequently discovered that the solicitors had a request from the DWP for details of the make up of the estate (as they apparently only get the final value figure) on 4 July which they didn't tell us about. In their subsequent letter the DWP have requested statements back to 2009 for specific accounts (all of them!). We have been quoted an amount by the solicitor for managing this process which is not acceptable (they are spectacularly useless at numbers!) and therefore taken charge of the DWP issue ourselves.

There's an Estate Recovery section of the DWP in Gloucester who are in charge of this & they tell us that a lot of people 'do their own' as solicitors charge a fortune. So we're in the process of getting them what they have asked for (statements etc) and we have until the end of September to respond to their requests.

More to come.....!

[geedee0520]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

A brief update.

DWP in Gloucester agreed to a delay in their timescales as the information from solicitors was delayed & we were away for 3 weeks. It's worth noting that they ask for balances of accounts at a specific date and for named banks etc in their letter. There's also a 'catch all' for 'other assets' in the estate at that date, presumably not shown in the probate documentation, and they ask for any private pensions etc paid at the date.

All the banks supplied statements for the date required - we contacted the various units the solicitors had dealt with for closure of accounts etc. I valued shareholdings using Yahoo finance which keeps historical share price data.

We sent all the statements & a covering letter to the DWP on 13 November. On 15 November they arrived back with a note saying they'd scanned them & didn't need the paper any more! We await their decision.

More to come..

[enquirer]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

If the decision goes against you, demand that they 'show their workings'. A friend who used to work at the DWP (and is now at HMRC, where the same applies), informs me that this often flummoxes them.

[The Debt Star]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

If the decision goes against you, demand that they 'show their workings'. A friend who used to work at the DWP (and is now at HMRC, where the same applies), informs me that this often flummoxes them.

Interesting and good advice!

[geedee0520]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

Final update:

Quick recap. Date of death October 2011, Probate granted May 2012, Estate valued at c£170k plus property (c£85k) DWP letter received July 2012 asking for details of balances etc at time of original claim (June 2009), DWP agreed to delay of approx 2 months for supply of statements which were sent to them on 13 November.

We received a 'holding' letter from DWP in early December saying they were working on it, and on 24 December (!) their decision, which was that all the Pension Credit should be refunded to them (about 5k). We have 4 weeks to pay.

We had checked bank statements and that is the figure we were expecting (total PC paid since claim) as we had checked the amount of PC which could be claimed using the calculator on the DWP website using actual bank balances at the time of the original claim and the answer was 0.00. We know bank balances at the time of the claim (June 2009) were £78k but the claim form showed £17k.

The letter from DWP doesn't show details of their calculations but just the amount owed and the reason (Overpayment of Pension Credit). We knew this was correct but there is no explanation of the numbers e.g. total paid & what is owed and why, just that DWP were unaware of all resources at the time of the claim. They do say that if you want further information then call them - we didn't need to do that.

Thanks to all who contributed.

[enaid]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

Thanks for the update geedee it's always appreciated .
Enaid x

[Firemonkey]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estates

This is my first time and I have a similar problem to yours. I hope the resolution for you was not too painful. I was wondering if I could take advantage of what you have learned. I lost my mum in April and felt as though I was just coming to terms with her death when I received a letter from DWP Estates Management. Mum had £35,00 in the bank and It looks as though she was overpaid £30 a week. Do you know how long they go back? I gather the bank only goes back 6 years. My mum signed her bungalow over to me 9 years ago, however, for inheritance tax she was deemed to still be receiving benefits whilst she was living there. The bungalow became mine when she came to live with me in February 2013. I am worried I will be forced to sell the property. I am on my own and as much as I am reasonably intelligent this is mind boggling. I hope everything turned out alright for you. It would help me greatly if you picked up valueable information along the way.