Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP - the ...

Mr C’s complaint about The Pension Service
and Debt Management
In Mr C’s case, The Pension Service’s delay in updating his aunt’s records, and delays by Debt
Management, led to problems after her death. It meant that they were not able to make a timely and
accurate decision about whether she had been overpaid and caused Mr C to incur avoidable legal
costs.
Background to the complaint
In October 1999 Miss E’s income support claim
started. Her nephew, Mr C, regularly sent copies
of her bank statements to the then Benefits
Agency to show the changes in Miss E’s capital.
In August 2002 Miss E’s file was sent to a storage
centre. In December 2003 the file was requested
by an office of The Pension Service, but it was not
returned subsequently to storage. The Pension
Service were later unable to identify who had
requested the file and where it had been sent.
Miss E died in October 2004, and in July 2005
the solicitors looking after her estate told Mr C
that they expected to be able to distribute the
estate soon. Debt Management then wrote to the
solicitors advising them not to distribute the estate
as there might have been a benefit overpayment.
In August and September Mr C contacted Debt
Management and provided further information. In
October Debt Management requested information
from the solicitors about Miss E’s bank accounts
and shares.
In March 2006 Debt Management and the solicitors
agreed that, as not all the information requested
could be obtained, they would use the amounts
in Miss E’s accounts at the date of her death. Debt
Management then issued a decision calculating the
overpaid benefit at £2,918.30. In April Mr C wrote to
Debt Management and asked to appeal (his letter
was filed in error and not dealt with). Between May
and July Mr C chased progress by telephone and
letter. In July Debt Management replied, noted that
Mr C wished to appeal, said that recovery of the
overpayment would be suspended until the issues
were resolved, provided some further information
in response to Mr C’s earlier letter and apologised
for the lack of an earlier reply. Between July and
September Debt Management and Mr C exchanged
further correspondence. Mr C believed, despite
the March 2006 agreement, that the exact figures
should be used and offered to provide relevant
information.
In October 2006 Debt Management wrote to the
solicitors requesting payment of £2,918.30 (this
letter was attributed to a computer error). Later
that month Debt Management wrote to Mr C
with a revised overpayment calculation of £518.80
and asked for his comments before a formal
decision was made. Mr C discussed the matter
by telephone with Debt Management and the
decision was then sent to Mr C (despite a request
that it go to the solicitors) without the supporting
calculations and schedule of assets. In November
Debt Management apologised for the earlier
omission, and provided the missing information.
The solicitors subsequently made the repayment of
£518.80.
In June 2007 an appeal tribunal decided that there
was no recoverable overpayment due, as DWP had
not produced any evidence to establish that Mr C
had failed to make the disclosure (about Miss E’s
assets) that they required.
36 Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009