DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

[enaid]

Re: DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

Your mum should have been assessed and there are rules for this assessment

Changes to capital during an assessed income period

Your customer does not have to tell us about changes to their capital during the assessed income period. However, if their capital changes and they think they could be entitled to more Pension Credit, they can tell us and ask for their Pension Credit to be recalculated. If this happens, we will ask for details of all (non-state) pension, annuity income, any equity release payments and capital at that point.
If the total is less than the figure we have been using, their Pension Credit will go up. If the total is the same as, or more than, the figure we have been using, their Pension Credit will stay the same.

More info on this is here https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...148/pc-10s.pdf


This is only for pension credits and I think any other benefits she would probably have been entitled to, Attendance Allowance for instance is not means tested

[marcus18]

Re: DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

i know this is an old thread and maybe the people who posted in it don't visit anymore but i wanted to put my thanks on record it has helped a great deal. my situation with my mother's estate is almost identical - at the time of her original claim she had next to no money, during her first assessed income period she had a substantial increase which i informed dwp of and still have their reply that it did not affect her benefit. she was 80 before her assessed period ended so would have moved to indefinite, never had a reassessment or any other contact, used her savings while she was able to access them to pay her rent, care bills which i subsequently helped her with. When probate has been granted and the money remaining given to me her sole beneficiary the DWP have dropped the overpayment bombshell letter which i'm intelligent enough to know has no basis but it has still stressed me to breaking point until i found this forum and this particular thread as i now know my argument and all the evidence - i still have all the letters, building society passboolks etc - is rock solid but i am just concerned at how long it will take them as I have no money coming in and have been too stressed by this to even consider looking for a job.


i think it's criminal that they are even allowed to do this and am more baffled as to why there isn't a massive amount of publicity about it as in my eyes it's little better than the malware browser hijacking pop ups saying pay us your money or your computer won't ever work.

If this had been right in my mums case then the council through care charges and rent and the dwp by being able to make this up as they go along would have been able to help themselves to a substantial sum. Luckily because of the amount of paperwork i've kept despite throwing tonnes out the other week then they can't really argue with their own letters.

so thanks again to all who contributed to this thread wherever you are you probably helped me get a bit of sleep tonight.

[Marlon]

Re: DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

i know this is an old thread and maybe the people who posted in it don't visit anymore but i wanted to put my thanks on record it has helped a great deal. my situation with my mother's estate is almost identical - at the time of her original claim she had next to no money, during her first assessed income period she had a substantial increase which i informed dwp of and still have their reply that it did not affect her benefit. she was 80 before her assessed period ended so would have moved to indefinite, never had a reassessment or any other contact, used her savings while she was able to access them to pay her rent, care bills which i subsequently helped her with. When probate has been granted and the money remaining given to me her sole beneficiary the DWP have dropped the overpayment bombshell letter which i'm intelligent enough to know has no basis but it has still stressed me to breaking point until i found this forum and this particular thread as i now know my argument and all the evidence - i still have all the letters, building society passboolks etc - is rock solid but i am just concerned at how long it will take them as I have no money coming in and have been too stressed by this to even consider looking for a job.


i think it's criminal that they are even allowed to do this and am more baffled as to why there isn't a massive amount of publicity about it as in my eyes it's little better than the malware browser hijacking pop ups saying pay us your money or your computer won't ever work.

If this had been right in my mums case then the council through care charges and rent and the dwp by being able to make this up as they go along would have been able to help themselves to a substantial sum. Luckily because of the amount of paperwork i've kept despite throwing tonnes out the other week then they can't really argue with their own letters.

so thanks again to all who contributed to this thread wherever you are you probably helped me get a bit of sleep tonight.

MARCUS18
How did you get on with this please?? We have similar situation, many thanks

[marcus18]

Re: DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

hello marlon, first of all you have my sympathy and please feel free to private message me about this as i will do anything i can to help anyone beat these parasites.

check this thread where i posted a couple of times yesterday

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...008#post738008

and this is a simple copy and paste of one of those posts which tells you the outcome. if i can be any more help PLEASE let me know.

• A brief summary of my mums case which is on here in greater detail but you can see if this is in anyway similar.
  
  original claim for income support dated 1994 when she was 65. She had less than £1000 in the bank at that time. changed to pension credit when everyone elses did (2003/2004). In 2006 she sold her house to move to a council bungalow with me as her sole carer as she was starting with vascular dementia. I wrote to them and told them even though according to their rules i didn't have to because she was in an assessed income period. I got a letter back which said her income did not alter her entitlement to pension credit. I kept both letters. During her AIP she became 80 and moved to an indefinite AIP until she died in february this year. In may after the will had gone through and beig sole executor and beneficiary i got the DWP and started panicking until on here and elsewhere i read about AIP's and then i got angry. She had been charged for her home care, respite and rent on the savings she had if the DWP had got their invented way she would effectively have lost the entire value of her house. The solicitor who handled the will didn't want to know, citizens advice brought a whole new level to the definition of crap. i rang the dwp recovery team told them the situation told them the letters i had the proof i had as her DWP appointee etc and told them that if it wasn't resolved inside one hour I would be suing them as she nor I owed them nothing and as an until recently full time carer I had no income but this sum was preventing me from claiming income support/housing benefit/council tax benefit etc. I got a phone call within 45 minutes to say they were aware of the AIP and had both letters from 2006/2007 and they would take no further action and put it in writing which i got the day after. I am still actually considering suing them as healthwise I am still suffering due to the shock of the situation - i have gone through my entire life (51) without owing anyone a penny. They will have your mum in laws original claim as they had mine. Since it appears legitimate and she was covered by an aip game over. I can't stress enough how important it is to get the dates of the aip sorted then ring them and get at them. They are chancers, it's debatable whether they really are the DWP or an offshoot paid by results because the first time i rang them i got a hello dwp etc the second time i got a totally different reply which didn't mention the letters dw or p.
  
  
  
  

[marcus18]

Re: DWP’s responsibility? Pension Credit overpaid

Does anyone know of any cases where the executor of the will has simply challenged the DWP to take them to court and prove it. Although my mum's case is very much over with I'm trying to find as much as i can out about how various responses work and are treated by the DWP. For example, if as they say any repayment is treated as a claim against the estate wouldn't there be a legal requirement to have the original pension credit form say eg in the event of any overpayment or fraudulent claim we may attempt to recover such monies from your estate/executors of your will? Although in my case I did know, I can't help thinking that expecting someone to know or be answerable to the information their parent provided on a form 23 years ago would simply be laughed out of court. It's like expecting someone to take the points on their license for a driving offence their deceased parent committed. And expecting someone so many years later to be liable for a mistake the DWP made if it's an error on their part is beyond reason.

Also does anyone know if the DWP have ever been sued for the (wrongful) distress/wrongful accusation? I am still seriously tempted to this option as a means of bringing this disgraceful hounding to the public attention.