BEREAVED relatives have been getting letters in the post telling them they need to pay back their loved ones state pension.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is writing to families informing them they need to return pension payments made in error.
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb said these letters do not make clear that repaying the money is voluntary.
The DWP overpaid more than £500million of state pension and pension credit payments into accounts of those who had died over five years and has only recovered around half of it.
These direct payment after death (DPAD) overpayments happen if the DWP isn’t notified of the death in time to stop a payment.
Though these are treated as non-recoverable and aren’t actually enforceable by law, the DWP can request the money back as a voluntary payment.
It says it has a responsibility to taxpayers to attempt to claim it back.
Because the DWP makes pension payments four weeks in later, payments can end up being made for a period after the pensioner has died, Sir Steve said.
He said: “It’s not a blunder, it’s just a feature of the system.
“The question is, what should happen then?
“And the bit that struck me as odd is that DWP try to get the money back, but don’t have a legal right to insist.”
Sir Steve, who now is a partner at pension consultants LCP, sent a freedom of information request (FOI) to receive a copy of the letter that gets sent to reclaim overpayments.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”How to track down lost pensions worth £1,000s” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6351034419112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]He pointed out: “Nowhere does it say that this is voluntary.
The letter has an FAQ section but none of the questions in it are “do I have to do this?”, Sir Steve noted.
He added: “And the result, I fear, is that it’s a lottery, and the losers of the lottery are people who are intimidated or frightened or upset by a letter.
“You know, they’ve just been bereaved.
“They get a letter from the Government demanding hundreds of pounds back, and they just send it because they think they have to.
“They don’t want, you know, they perhaps fear a knock at the door kind of thing, whereas other people, who perhaps are aware they don’t have to pay it back or just choose not to, don’t.”
Either the law should state that everyone is obligated to pay the money back or the Government should stop requesting repayments altogether, Sir Steve explained.
He said: “This kind of halfway house of … we know that it’s not mandatory when we send the letters, but we’re not going to tell you…that doesn’t seem right to me.”
The DWP acknowledged that there is no legal obligation to repay such overpayments but said it has a responsibility to attempt to recover the funds.
A DWP spokesperson said: “It is not our intention to cause distress, however, we have a responsibility to taxpayers to recover overpayments. We acknowledge this is not always possible.
“Whilst there is no legal obligation to repay a debt of this type, we recognise some people will be willing to repay money to which there was no entitlement. We provide full contact details and encourage anyone with concerns to call us.”
It’s understood that no further letters are issued requesting payment if the DWP does not receive a response and that an initial recovery is attempted from the bank where the payment was made or from the deceased’s next of kin.
How to complain if you think you’ve been treated unfairly by the DWP
If you believe that the DWP has acted in a way that has caused you harm or has treated you unfairly, you may be able to make a complaint.
You could make a complaint if mistakes have been made with your case, there were unreasonable delays, you haven’t been kept informed or you feel you’ve been treated poorly.
To make a complaint, you may need your National Insurance number, your full name, address and contact details, which benefit you are complaining about and what happened.
You’ll also need to explain how the situation has affected you and how you would like the DWP to put it right.
It’s a good idea to provide any evidence to back up your complaint, such as conflicting communications, missed timeframes or evidence of a mistake.
If the DWP agrees it’s made a mistake or treated you poorly it will put it right and may offer you compensation.
If it disagrees and you aren’t happy with the outcome, you can escalate your complaint to a senior manager who will call you to discuss your complaint.
You should then receive a “final response”. If you still don’t agree, you can contact an independent case examiner. You must do so within six months of getting your final response.