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UC and death of a single claimant
We have just received a note on a UC account telling us that they will not pay for any of the assessment period in which the claimant dies. If this is correct, it is quite a concern.
We are aware that there is a run on for couples and child dependents and very welcome this is but if the above is true for single claimants we can see significant problems for the people dealing with their estates, joint tenants or people succeeding to the property, not to mention landlords. If say the claimant dies the day before the end of their assessment period - that’s a month’s rent unpaid in arrears.
Hi
It seems that this is indeed the case. Death is treated as if it occurred a the beginning of the assessment period.
Sadly nothing short of abhorrent…
Debt and deductions after death
If a payment is made to a single person after they have died, the payment is automatically classed as an overpayment. No overpayment decision is required and the overpayment should be referred to Debt Management.
If an overpayment is caused because one member of a couple dies, an overpayment decision should be made as usual. The overpayment will be recoverable from the surviving partner.
An overpayment of housing costs paid direct to a landlord can occur due to the death of the claimant.
The overpayment is only recoverable from the landlord if they had failed to disclose the death of their tenant. An example is if they were aware of the death and failed to report it. Otherwise, the overpayment would be recoverable either from the estate of the deceased or any surviving partner of the Universal Credit claimant.
The death of a claimant is a relevant change of circumstances affecting entitlement to Universal Credit. When a single claimant dies there are no further payments due. For the purpose of the award calculation, the death is treated as if it occurred at the beginning of the assessment period.
A new low from the DWP, robbing the dead!
It will be interesting to see how DWP exercise their discretion not to recover in such case and apply their guidance in COP1. It being a bit difficult for the claimant in such circumstances to meet their obligation to report this particular change within one month!
It will be interesting to see how DWP exercise their discretion not to recover in such case and apply their guidance in COP1. It being a bit difficult for the claimant in such circumstances to meet their obligation to report this particular change within one month!
Whether someone met - or could have met - their obligations to report changes, doesn’t seem to be a relevant factor in the COP1. As far as I can see it only mentions hardship as a potential reason to waive recovery.