Dead people were paid £170,000,000 in benefits last year
The overpayments are usually caused by a lag between a person passing away and their family notifying the Department of Work and Pensions (Picture: PA)
A record £170million in pension payments were made to people after they had died last year.
Just £348million of the £673million inadvertently paid out to deceased pensioners in the last five years has been recovered by the exchequer.
Of the rest, some £240million has been written off as unrecoverable debt.
Grieving families have no legal obligation to give any money back, so civil servants can only write to them requesting repayment.
Last year’s figure was the highest sum paid out erroneously on record, the Telegraph reported.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking Newsalerts the moment it happens.
The overpayments are usually caused by a lag between a person passing away and their family notifying the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
Relatives must report a death within five days of a person passing away or body being discovered.
More than £600million was paid to people who had already deceased over the last five years (Picture: Shutterstock/Syda Productions)
Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, said the amount paid to deceased people would increase as pension rates rise
A failure to report a death is recorded by DWP as a fraud or claimant error.
As it is, DWP has no legal power to recoup money paid out to people who are no longer around to receive it.
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, a Liberal Democrat who served in the Coalition Government under David Cameron, added that taking a heavy-handed approached on the recently bereaved would also go down poorly with the public.
He added that the number of overpayments would likely increase as the number of pensioners and rates grow.
Shimeon Lee, a policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said that while the losses are a small share of the overall amount paid to pensioners, they represent a ‘serious weakness’ in the system.
A spokesperson for DWP said it was the department’s policy to pursue debt where it is ‘cost-effective’ to recover.
‘He’s Desperate for Cash’: Prince Harry Torched as ‘Grief Grifter’ Over Paid Princess Diana MasterClass Entertainment <p class="wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio" id="par-1_44">Prince Harry is getting backlash for talking about Princess Diana’s death in a paid MasterClass. Harry’s course, <em>Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss</em>, came out on October 8. He sits down with neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor, a University of Arizona professor who studies grief. </p> <p class="wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"…
Royalist: Prince Harry was paid for his MasterClass course, he’s ‘monetizing grief’ Entertainment This weekend, Prince Harry’s MasterClass episode comes out. The class is called “Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss,” and he speaks to camera about his grief journey, losing his mother so young, and how it took decades for him to really accept her death and understand that she would have…
People: Prince Harry & Meghan were treated ‘the same as anyone else’ at a local pub Entertainment In recent weeks, the Duchess of Sussex has been seen at several pubs in the Cotswolds. Meghan went out to lunch with Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi in September, then Kelly Zajfen revealed that she visited Meghan and they went out to a pub as well. Then, over the…
Hotel workers strike ahead of Chicago marathon, seek better pay and benefits News Dozens of Chicago hotel workers walked off the job Friday at six downtown hotels to demand wage increases, better benefits and safer workloads as thousands of visitors arrive for marathon weekend. Workers have been negotiating new contracts for four months, after their previous agreements expired Aug. 31. Karen Kent, president…
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
