Worried about the DWP?

Question

my nan died 0n the 24th of august 2007, my grandad received about 3 payments for her in september, he took them to the local jobcentre and gave them back he also told them about the death and he also gave the jobcentre my nans post office account card, the jobcentre cut it up and my grandad left, then nothing happened so he thought everything was sorted out. then a letter came from the dwp in dec, saying that there was a overpayment of £124 from 27/08 to 9/09 and he had to pay it back, so i took over and started looking into the problem, i found out that the post off acount was maybe still open, so i went and closed the account, a few days later i got the money out the acount which was £1999 and i also had a satement that showed the dwp had kept paying into the acount for the prev 13weeks, i dont understand wats going only, why only ask for £124 when they have paid over £1000 since, can anyone help, ps a friend said just pay them what they asked for and the rest is there mistake. thnx

Answer 1

They always pay a couple of weeks too many. It stops the widow/widower being short immediately after the death and they can't make the changes that quickly. 13 weeks is a large overpayment though. They will catch up eventually. Put it in a high interest account in your granddad's name and leave it earning him interest until they ask for it back.

Answer 2

Hiya, I work for the DWP and have heard of this happening, my best advice to you is this. Pay the £124.00 back to the DWP and put the rest in a high interest account. Do not spend it as it can take a while for overpayments to come to light and you don't want your Grandad in a situation where they are taking money off him that he no longer has.

Best wishes and sorry for your loss. x