I have an appeal coming up where some of a funeral payment has been denied because the DLA and IS paid to the widow was an overpayment of DLA and IS for the deceased husband under Reg 7 (1)(a)-(e).

We were prepared to request,in time, for this to be paid back at a manageable amount per week but not fully and immediately from the funeral payment. Any ideas on how to process the appeal??

Could you provide more info' as to why the Department think that the IS/DLA is recoverable from her?

There were 4 days of IS paid with the husbands element still included before it was stopped and 2 weeks of his DLA.

What do you think?

Sonya

Hi Sonya

The DLA was his and on his death became part of his estate. The administrator/executor of the estate must advertise for creditors to come forward. Creditors have 2 months to come forward. After this period expires the estate can be settled.

Failure to follow this procedure renders the administrator/executor liable for the loss to any creditor through civil proceedings. Once settled the debt cannot be recovered from the beneficiary to the estate.

Of course, partners of the deceased often act unofficially in these matters as administrators and if this happened in your client's case then she may be liable for the loss anyway.

What is the ground for the overpayment?

Paul

Hi Paul

I agree the overpayment was made and re-payable but the method of reclaiming is very insensitive and the widow was not given any consideration in a long drawn out battle to get her benefits sorted so I think the reclaiming of the £167 from the funeral payment was like rubbing in salt. My client would have prefered to have the F.P. made in full and given the opportunity to repay any overpaid benefit gradually.

Thanks for your help.

Sonya

sonya do you have the appeal submission yet? it should set out the grounds of the appeal and the regs etc providing the authority for recovery.

have you had overpayment decisions on the overpaid IS and DLA?

i'm wondering whether they are recovering due to direct credit transfers.

can you clarify please? - it sounds very wrong.

jj

Sorry I haven't gotten back - I've been on leave.

DWP are using Reg 8(1)(a)in that the 167.46 was an asset of the deceased which was available to the responsible person.

The money was issued by credit transfers after the death of the husband though we did inform them immediately of the husbands death.

Sonya

sonia, it grieves me to say so but she is probably caught by 8(1). SF payments aren't prescribed benefits for recovery of overpayment, but this is classed as a deduction rather than a recovery. you could argue that the amount was overpaid and not available to the responsible person, but it might be a bit pointless, as if it succeeded, unlikely because funeral expenses have first call, she could then be asked to pay the money back to the DWP. ACT payments aren't section 71 recoveries, so the fact that the death was reported immediately isn't relevant to the power to recover.
she might need to watch that she isn't asked to repay the money as well as have it deducted...the left hand doesn't always know what the right hand is doing...but reg 8 does appear to cover it. : (

jj

Thanks JJ

for getting back to me. I have hoped that there was something I could use because of the way this lady has been treated. The DWP have been so insensitive to her plight and no apologies have been forth comeing at all. Par for the course!!

Sonya