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Overpayment of Benefits

An overpayment is when benefit has been paid to someone but they are not entitled to receive it.

Why do overpayments happen?

Overpayments happen for a number of reasons. A few examples of which include:

  • We are not told about a change in circumstances at the time, or not at all. This may be an increase or change in income or capital, somebody else moving into the household, or vacating the property;
  • A claimant has deliberately claimed benefit to which they are not entitled;
  • A mistake has been made by us, the Department for Works and Pensions or another Government agency. These are known as 'official error' overpayments.

It is therefore important that you notify us of any change in circumstance as soon as possible in order to avoid being overpaid Housing or Council Tax Benefit.

Do all overpayments have to be paid back?

We have the discretion to recover all overpayments, except in some cases when the overpayment has come about as a result of 'official error'.

Overpayments that are caused by 'official error' cannot be recovered, unless it was reasonable for the tenant or landlord to have known that they were being overpaid.

Overpayments can be recovered from either the person who caused the overpayment, or the person who received the overpayment.

How are overpayments recovered?

Council Tax Benefit overpayments:

  • Overpaid Council Tax Benefit will be added to your Council Tax Account. A new Council Tax bill will be issued that advises of the new amount payable.

Housing Benefit overpayments:

  • If Housing Benefit is still in payment; it is likely that we will recover any overpayment by reducing the amount of benefit you recieve each week. Using the amount reduced from your benefit to reduce the outstanding overpayment. You must then make up the difference to your Landlord to avoid accumulating rent arrears.
  • If Housing Benefit is no longer in payment; it is likely that we will issue the person from whom we are seeking recovery with an invoice for the overpaid amount. An arrangement should then be made with our recovery department to pay back the overpaid amount.
  • If Housing Benefit payments have been made to the Landlord; we may ask the Landlord to repay the amount in certain circumstances.
  • If you are on Social Security benefits; we can ask the Department for Work and Pensions to make deductions from your benefit to recover the overpayment.
  • If you have vacated our area; we can ask your new Local Authority to recover the overpayment from your Housing Benefit that is paid by them.

The decision on how we choose to recover the overpayment is at our discretion and can not be appealed.

What will happen if an overpayment is not repaid?

If an invoice remains unpaid, or someone does not keep to an arrangement to repay the debt, over time this will lead to further action being taken. This may include pursuing the debt in the County Court.

What if I cannot afford the recovery rate being taken?

If you want us to look again at the amount we take from your Housing Benefit please contact the Benefits Section In order to reach a decision, to reduce the amount we take, we may ask for more information.

Your options if you disagree with the decision.

If you are overpaid Housing or Council Tax Benefit, and you disagree with the overpayment, you can write to us and ask for one of the following options:

  1. a more detailed explanation
  2. for us to look at the decision again
  3. for your claim to be heard by The Tribunals Service

If you decide you would like to request any of the above three options then you must do this in writing, within one calendar month of the date of the letter notifying you of the overpayment.

The decisions you can challenge are:

  • If we can recover the overpayment, or not;
  • Who we can recover it from;
  • How we have worked out the overpayment.

The decisions you cannot challenge are:

  • If we 'should' recover the overpayment, or not;
  • How we choose to recover the overpayment.

If you are still not satisfied with our decision, after receiving a more detailed explanation or after your claim has been looked at again, you can still appeal against the decision. Your case will then be heard by The Tribunals Service. The Tribunals Service is independent to Council.

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 June 2010 14:04

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