A letter says you were overpaid, sometimes years ago, and asks for it back out of the pension. Two questions decide what happens: whether the DWP can recover at all, which turns on who caused the overpayment and which benefit it was, and how it recovers, which for a pensioner means deductions from the State Pension or a claim on the estate. Both have rules, and both have a route to argue.
How the DWP recovers
GOV.UK says that if you are still receiving benefits, the regular amount you get will be reduced until you have paid back the money, and to contact the DWP Debt Management contact centre if you think too much has been taken (GOV.UK, Benefit overpayments, checked 1 November 2026).
The regulations let the Secretary of State recover by deduction from a list of benefits that includes a State Pension under the Pensions Act 2014 (Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations 2013, regulation 10, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK publishes no fixed rate for deductions from the State Pension, and this page does not invent one. It says that if you do not repay the DWP may ask an employer to deduct from pay, pass the case to a debt collector, or pass it to its Debt Enforcement Team.
Who caused it: the law that limits recovery
The Act that governs a State Pension overpayment sets a test. It says the DWP may recover a payment made because a person misrepresented, or failed to disclose, a material fact, one that would have changed the payment (Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 71, checked 1 November 2026).
A separate section allows recovery of any amount paid in excess of entitlement, without that test, but only for Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and housing credit within the meaning of the State Pension Credit Act 2002 (Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 71ZB, checked 1 November 2026). The State Pension is not on that list, and nor are Pension Credit’s Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit. So a State Pension overpayment caused purely by a DWP error, where the pensioner told it everything, is not one section 71 entitles it to recover, and a demand for one is worth challenging.
One caution, which is general legal information rather than a GOV.UK line. Whether a failure to disclose happened is decided on the facts, and a pensioner who knew a payment was too high and said nothing may be found to have failed to disclose it. Take welfare rights advice before refusing a demand outright.
Challenging the demand
GOV.UK says that if you think an overpayment is a mistake you can ask for mandatory reconsideration, usually within one month of receiving the letter, and that you can do so if you think the DWP made an error or missed important evidence, or disagree with the reasons (GOV.UK, Benefit overpayments, checked 1 November 2026).
Ask in writing. Say which fact you are said to have misrepresented or failed to disclose, and when and how you told the DWP if you did; ask for the calculation and the period; and keep a copy. Where the overpayment is Pension Credit rather than the pension, its Guarantee and Savings Credit fall under the same section 71 test. Our Pension Credit hub covers reporting the changes that avoid it.
What you can afford
GOV.UK says to contact DWP Debt Management if you need help managing your repayments, that it can talk you through your options including what you can afford to pay, and to contact it if you think too much has been taken.
The number is 0800 916 0647, from abroad +44 161 904 1233, Monday to Friday 8am to 7.30pm (GOV.UK, Benefit overpayments, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK does not use the word waiver on these pages. A request that a debt be written off, on grounds of hardship or the DWP’s own conduct, can be made to the same team in writing. If you are unhappy with how the DWP has handled it, you can complain, and the Independent Case Examiner, which GOV.UK says reviews complaints about government organisations dealing with benefits, work and financial support, including the DWP, can look at the complaint (GOV.UK, Independent Case Examiner, checked 1 November 2026).
After a death
GOV.UK says the DWP can recover benefit overpayments from a person’s estate, and that if you are dealing with the estate it will write to you once probate has been granted to ask for the information it needs (GOV.UK, Benefit overpayments, checked 1 November 2026). Its warning to executors is direct.
It says you should not distribute the estate until you know what has to be repaid, because if you do you may have to pay it back yourself.
It adds that if the information is not provided the overpayment is calculated on the probate figure before deductions, the whole estate, and that where a payment arrived because the DWP was not told of the death in time, Debt Management contacts the next of kin, the bank and whoever handles the estate. The section 71 test applies to the estate’s liability as it did to the person’s. Our probate hub covers the executor’s duty to settle debts first, and the when someone dies hub the Tell Us Once report that stops the payments.
Deductions for other debts
Council tax, rent and energy arrears are collected from some benefits, not the pension. GOV.UK’s page on deductions for debts and bills names the benefits that can be used as Universal Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit (GOV.UK, Manage deductions from your benefits to pay debts and bills, checked 1 November 2026). The State Pension is not on the list.
GOV.UK says that on benefits other than Universal Credit, £4.80 a week is deducted for each debt.
A newer power reaches bank accounts. The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 added a power for the Secretary of State to make a direct deduction order, regular or lump sum, against the bank account of a person from whom a social security amount is recoverable (Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025, Schedule 5, checked 1 November 2026), and the section inserting it has been fully in force since 24 June 2026 (section 95, checked 26 October 2026). It applies to any DWP debt, not to pensioners in particular, and this page says only that it exists.
Carer’s Allowance overpayments
The largest current overpayment programme concerns carers. GOV.UK says the DWP is reassessing Carer’s Allowance overpayments that took place between 10 April 2015 and 2 September 2025, that those affected may get a refund or have the debt reduced or cancelled, and that there is no need to contact the unit about it (GOV.UK, Carer's Allowance, checked 1 November 2026).
Our Carer’s Allowance stopped or suspended page covers the earnings-limit cliff that produced them.