€88 million taken from estates of dead pensioners following reviews of assets

€88,362,694 was recovered from the estates of 2,159 deceased pensioners by the Department of Social Protection since 2019

The Department of Social Protection has taken more than €88 million from the estates of deceased pensioners in the past five years following retrospective reviews of their assets.

The families of 2,159 recipients of the non-contributory state pension or widow’s pension have been hit with a bill from the department following the death of their loved ones since 2019.

When a social welfare recipient dies, the department must be notified in order for probate to be granted and their assets transferred to their families or other beneficiaries.

It then reviews a schedule of the deceased’s assets and compares it to the assets that the person declared for the purposes of their means-tested social welfare payment.

If the department finds that the deceased had assets or income that they failed to declare, it can seek to reclaim money paid to that individual to which they would not have been entitled based on their assets.

Records obtained by the Irish Mirror show that a total of €88,362,694 was recovered from the estates of 2,159 deceased pensioners by the Department of Social Protection since 2019 – an average of nearly €41,000 per individual.

Some 2,154 of the deceased had been receiving the non-contributory state pension when they died, while €107,767 was recovered from the estates of five people who were in receipt of the non-contributory widow’s pension.

The discrepancies that are detected during reviews of assets belonging to deceased social welfare recipients often relate to changes in circumstances that were not reported to the department when they occurred.

On its website, the Department of Social Protection states that any person who is getting a social assistance payment must notify it about any increases in their means – usually within three months of it occurring.

“If, subsequent to the death of a customer, it comes to light that not all of the deceased’s means were properly disclosed, the department has powers to recover any monies overpaid from the estate of the deceased,” it added.

Last year, almost €19.5 million was recovered from the estates of 467 deceased recipients of the non-contributory state pension – the highest number and monetary amount in the past five years.

No monies have been recovered from the estates of people who received the non-contributory widow’s pension since 2020, when €51,756 was clawed back from the estates of three individuals.

The Department of Social Protection did not respond to a request for comment.

Join the Irish Mirror’s breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive breaking news and the latest headlines direct to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.