TAP ON THE BUSINESS: Does a mix-up of pension credits mean that my wife is paying too much healthcare costs?

My wife, who is 84 and lives in a care home, receives a pension credit of £23.09 a week from the Department of Work and Pensions.

This is help towards her care costs of £181.80 a week which we pay directly to Hertfordshire County Council.

But the council says it should be getting £36.42 a week of pension credit, and uses this higher (but never paid) amount to calculate the £181.80 in benefits.

I have sent HCC the DWP letter stating what her pension credit actually is because if we use this figure it would appear she is overpaying HCC by about £723.60 a year.

But HCC just said the £23.09 is wrong and advised me to tell DWP.

I have sent a letter to DWP, but have not received a response. So my wife is paying higher healthcare costs but not getting the help she should be getting. I’m stuck in the middle. Can you help? PH, Hertfordshire

Helen Crane from This is Money replies: Retirement home costs are extremely expensive and you want to make sure you are not being overcharged.

When a person enters a care home and part of their fee is paid by the local government, the local government will conduct what is called a financial assessment to determine how much money the person needs to contribute themselves.

This is based on things like whether they own a home, how much money they have saved and how much pension they receive – and any pension credit.

You told me that your wife has been in the care home since 2020. Her entitlements to fees and charges have changed a few times since then, and something clearly went wrong in your calculation somewhere along the way.

If you’ve run through the numbers, you’d think you’re paying an extra £724 a year – basically footing the bill for an extra month out of every 12.

You’re not sure how long this has been the case as you haven’t always been given detailed figures on how care home benefits are calculated, but you think the overcharge could date back as far as September 2020.

You first became aware of this in April 2023 and have been trying to solve the problem ever since, but with little success.

As retirees, every penny counts, so I was eager to help.

I have contacted both Herts County Council and the DWP asking them to look into your wife’s case and make sure she is paying the correct amount for care.

I am happy to say that the problem is now on its way to being resolved.

Firstly, the DWP has now increased the pension credit your wife receives from £23.09 per week to £44.10 per week. You also received a one-time payment of €66.

Based on this, the council told me it was now doing a revised assessment of your wife’s healthcare costs.

After this is done I think you should ask to get back all the money you overpaid.

Ignored: Our reader wrote a letter to DWP explaining his wife’s situation, but received no reply as it did not contain the correct information

HCC said the problem arose because the information about your wife’s savings was different from that provided to the DWP.

You don’t know how this happened, but accept that it could have been a genuine mistake on your part.

However, you tried to notify the DWP about this problem months ago – and it ignored your letter.

I asked a spokesperson why you didn’t get a response initially and was told it was because you didn’t provide enough information.

Apparently, the department can’t reply to all letters, so if the correct information isn’t there, there’s a chance it will simply be ignored.

I don’t know much about the inner workings of the DWP, but surely it would make sense to answer you and tell you what was needed – rather than abandon you?

However, since I contacted the DWP, they have reached out and you have provided the correct information, resulting in an increase in the pension credit.

This emphasizes how important it is to ensure that all the information you provide is right the first time.

But those handling care costs for a loved one are likely to be elderly and vulnerable themselves, and I’m concerned that you can’t solve this problem without my intervention.

How many others are out there who might be overpaying without realizing it?

A spokesman for Hertfordshire County Council said: ‘After investigating this matter in detail and speaking to PH, although our estimate calculation was correct based on the information available at the time, it appears that the County Council and the DWP had differing information about (his wife’s) savings level and therefore calculated the amounts of the pension credit differently.

Now that we are aware of this, we will revise the financial assessment accordingly.

“We are sorry this confusion has arisen and we hope that the revised review will resolve this issue.”