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For those that didnt know, i work for the UK Government in protection of public funds against abuse of the social security system. Basically when someone has been paid too much benefit for whatever reason i make sure theyre punished (if appropriate), calculate how much they owe, and get it back. One of the area's we reclaim money is when we pay Retirement Pension to someone after their dead. Basically payments are issued 7 days in advance so they have time to go thro the banking system and arrive in the customers account ready for them to draw - as a result, when we are notified of a death, we've already issued next weeks payment. Heres a great artical published last week in the national press on a huge page spread, classic british media.
8 February 2006
EXCLUSIVE: PENSION WRONGS
EXCLUSIVE CALLOUS DWP TARGETS BEREAVED RELATIVES
By Clinton Manning And John Husband
WE have been swamped with calls from angry pensioners being chased for money that a bungling government department paid their dead relatives.
In some cases the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has snatched back the cash without informing the widows.
Two weeks ago, Your Money revealed that the DWP paid the £10 Christmas bonus to 3,000 dead pensioners. It told us it would not pursue the relatives for the money as it was "not cost-effective".
But that was not true - and last week we highlighted the case of 69-year-old Patricia Watkinson which proved it.
It now emerges that her case was the tip of the iceberg. We've had dozens of calls from people who have had letters demanding they repay pension or benefit cash dished out by the DWP after their partners died.
Dorothy Brooks is a typical example of the DWP's heartless approach. Her husband Donald died of lung cancer in March last year. She notified the DWP the next day that she would no longer be entitled to the £58.80-a-week attendance allowance paid to carers.
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Eight months later, when she went to have her Yorkshire Building Society account updated, she discovered the DWP had grabbed back £117.60 without telling her.
"My mother was immediately reduced to tears as this instantly brought back memories of my father's death," says Dorothy's daughter Christine.
The Yorkshire wrote to Mrs Brooks, apologising, but claimed the DWP told her that Secretary of State John Hutton owned the money and they did not need the agreement of the next-of-kin to reclaim the cash.
It went on to say its legal department later informed it that this was not true and that it had been "misled" by the DWP. It gave her £20 as an apology for the "distress and inconvenience".
Maisie Richards, 84, is another DWP victim. It is pursuing her for £89.68 - one week's pension - overpaid when her husband Gordon died of cancer last August, aged 82.
Maisie, from Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, says the letter was very curt.
"I was very upset by the callousness of it all," she says. "It's a bit much to expect me to do that out of my pension. I've only got £114 a week to live on and there's all my bills - the gas and electricity and so on.
But it's not just the money. It's the principle of the thing. It really is despicable."
Annette Clayton's husband Richard died from lung cancer just before Christmas 2004. Five months later the widow from Shipton on Stour, Warwicks, received two letters in two days demanding back £235 pension and £229 attendance allowance.
"It was very upsetting," she says. "I was just starting to come to terms with my husband's death, then this."
Francis Bourne, an 84-year-old ex-miner from Stoke-on-Trent, is being chased for £50.45 pension overpaid to his wife Doris, 81, who died last August from a bug she picked up in hospital.
"She'd been in hospital since May, so I'd been drawing the pension for both of us," says Francis. "She died on the Tuesday and apparently they paid another week's pension into her account on the Thursday. "I got a letter in January saying they wanted the whole week's money back and told me to get a form with which to do it at the post office.
"I've been down there three times with a cheque. Each time I've been turned away and told they want more identification from me first.
"I don't see what more they need. I'm completely fed up with it. So I'm just going to leave it until they ask for it again."
George Bradley lost his wife last August after an 11-year battle with cancer.
George, 69, from York, was just getting over his first Christmas without Janet when he was shocked to get a letter from the DWP asking him to pay back £102.90 in benefits.
"They couldn't even get the date right," he says. "Because they got that wrong I decided to check this out. When I called, it was explained to me that I was not being told that I had to pay the money back - I was being asked if I would pay it back. As they messed up the dates I've decided not to pay it."
Meanwhile, Raymond Wallace is desperate for his next pension cheque - so he can pay back £75. The DWP wrote to him after they paid an extra two weeks' disability benefit to his wife, Jean, who died last August.
"It just brings back all the painful memories," says Raymond, 67. "If it takes five months to catch up for two weeks' money, then what else can go wrong?"
WE SAY: These people deserve sympathy and consideration, not harassment.
The Department of Woeful Performance blames the problems on "computer errors". But people operate computers. The trouble is that the DWP has axed so many staff -more than 15,000 in 18 months - that those left are overstretched and unable to cope with the volume of work.
Is it any wonder the unions are fighting plans to slash another 15,000 jobs?
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There we were some pictures of old ladies holding letters aswell looking half dead. haha. dunno if that lot will make much sense to you or not. |
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