A man was hit with a huge £22,000 bill after the DWP spotted an error in his Pension Credit application made in 2017.
Robert Vincent will be paying money back well into his eighties after the DWP found his private pension income was higher than the amount he had stated in his Pension Credit application – more than six years later.
He applied in March 2017 after struggling to keep on top of his rising bills. The 75-year-old was overjoyed when he found he was entitled to the benefit and his income would start being topped up.
However, six years later he received a letter from the DWP demanding he repay £22,096 after it discovered an error in his details.
Robert told the Sun: “I completely accept I need to pay the money back if I wasn’t entitled to it, even though it was a genuine mistake.
“The problem is that I really can’t afford the huge repayments. I don’t understand why the DWP didn’t check my details were correct until now, six years later.”
To cut back and save, Robert has since cancelled all his insurance policies just to afford food, leaving him with “no security”.
His rent has increased from £54 to £419, as he also lost his housing benefit, and he now has to pay £73 a month in council tax.
Robert currently has to pay back £258.72 every four weeks until February 2030, when the payments should reduce to £105.17 until he pays off the debt. If he paid it back at this rate, it would take him around seven years.
He said: “I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep this up for years to come, I’m just hoping I can reduce the payments to a more affordable £150 instead.”
Pension Credit is reserved for those on the state pension who are on low income and are in need of extra financial support.
As it stands, the benefit is worth around £3,500 a year on average to those who are eligible, according to the DWP.
The benefit tops up a person’s income to a minimum of £201.05 per week for single pensioners and to £306.85 for couples – or more if a person has a disability or caring responsibilities.
Even a small Pension Credit award can open doors to other benefits – including help with housing costs, council tax, heating bills, as well as up to £600 in extra Cost of Living payments later this year.
The DWP estimates that 850,000 pensioner households may be entitled to an average annual income boost of around £3,500.
