UK Paid £673M in Pensions to Deceased Retirees Over 5 Years
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made a record-breaking benefits blunder. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that officials paid a total of £170 million into the bank accounts of pensioners who had died, with nearly half of the huge sum—covering the state pension and other retirement payments—still unrecovered.
The official figures make clear that this isn’t an issue confined to a single year; they point to a deep-seated weakness in the system:
Five-Year Snapshot: Over the past five years, £673 million was mistakenly paid to pensioners who had died.
Amount Recovered: Just £348 million of that money was recovered.
Written-Off Debts: Debts are written off when the cost of recovering them exceeds the amount owed. Over the past five years, around £240 million was deemed unrecoverable and written off.
Current Position: The DWP has written off £16.5 million in debt for 2025–26 and is continuing to pursue the remaining £67 million.
Legal limitations on its authority are making it difficult for the DWP to recover the money.
Under current legislation, bereaved families are under no legal obligation to repay these payments. The department can therefore only ask them to do so by sending a written notice.
However, if a death goes unreported or misleading information is provided, the DWP can classify the case as “fraud” or “claimant error,” making the money an officially recoverable overpayment.
Webb reminded people that deaths must be reported within five days in England and eight days in Scotland, noting that delays trigger automatic payments in the system:
“A delay can arise between someone’s death and their family registering it. The DWP has no legal power to force people to repay this money. Taking a hard line with people who have recently lost a loved one would also upset the public. As the pensioner population grows and pension payments rise, these figures will climb further.”
A DWP spokesperson, commenting on the issue, said the department’s policy was to recover all debts where it was reasonable and cost-effective to do so, and urged members of the public:
“We encourage everyone who has lost someone close to them to use the Tell Us Once service, which lets you notify all government departments in one go. As soon as we receive a notification, we update our records promptly and make sure benefits are paid only to those entitled to them.”
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