Overpayments

What is an overpayment?

An overpayment happens when you are given more Housing Benefit or Council Tax benefit than you are entitled to.
An overpayment of Council Tax benefit is called “excess benefit” in law, but we use the term overpayment to cover both Housing and Council Tax benefit.
The benefit may have been paid by cheque or bank credit (to you or to your landlord) or rebated (to your rent or council tax account)

How do overpayments happen?

Sometimes an overpayment happens because we make a mistake, but many overpayments come about because someone doesn’t tell us about a change in their circumstances straight away.

It is important that you tell us about any changes in your circumstances which might affect the amount of benefit that you receive.
These are some examples of the changes you should tell us about.

• You stop receiving Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance
• Your income changes
• Someone leaves or joins your household
• You move to another address

More information about changes in your circumstances is given here.

Each time your benefit entitlement is calculated, we send you a letter telling you the information that we have used in the calculation. You are responsible for making sure that the information is correct. The best way to do this is to check the letter carefully. If you notice a mistake or if anything is wrong, you must tell us immediately.

Can all overpayments can be recovered?

Housing and Council Tax Benefit Regulations allow us to ask you to pay back most overpayments.
But if the overpayment was caused because of a mistake made by us, the Department for Work and Pensions or HM Revenue and Customs, we cannot ask you to pay it back, as long as

• you or the person acting on your behalf did not cause or contribute to the mistake

and

• it is unreasonable to expect you to have known that you were being overpaid at the time you received your payment or award letter.

In every case, before we decide whether or not to ask you to repay benefit, we look at:

• the cause of the overpayment
• whether you were in any way responsible for the overpayment
• whether it is reasonable to expect you to have known that you were being overpaid

What if the overpayment wasn’t my fault?

Even if the overpayment wasn’t your fault, you may still be required to repay it, but only if we could reasonably expect you to know that you were being overpaid.

Who can the overpayment be recovered from?

We can recover the overpayment from:

• You (and in some circumstances your partner)
• Someone acting on your behalf
• The person that the benefit was paid to (such as your landlord or their agent)

Can I appeal against an overpayment?

Yes, you have one calendar month from the date you are notified about the overpayment to make an appeal. Recovery of the overpayment will not start until this appeal has been decided.

If I am overpaid, will I have to pay the money back all at once?

Not necessarily. The ways that we can recover an overpayment are shown below. You can however arrange to repay the benefit all at once if you wish. Please let us know if you would like to do this.

How is an overpayment recovered?

If we decide to ask for repayment, there are several ways we can do it.

We can recover:

• By reducing your ongoing Housing Benefit until the overpayment is repaid. You will need to pay extra rent to your landlord or to your rent account to make up the shortfall in your benefit. The weekly amount of the reduction is set by the government.
• By reducing the amount paid to your landlord or agent. You will need to pay extra rent to your landlord or to your rent account to make up the shortfall in your benefit. The weekly amount of the reduction is set by the government.
• If you no longer qualify for Housing Benefit, we will send you an invoice and you can make an arrangement to repay the debt in instalments.
• By taking money for the overpaid benefit back from your rent account
  We will only do this if your rent account is in credit or if you have paid extra rent during the time that you were overpaid.
• By recovery from a deceased person’s estate
• By deduction from certain Social Security benefits

If the overpayment is for Council Tax benefit, we will add the amount of the overpayment to your Council Tax bill. You will receive a new Council Tax bill.

What if I can’t pay the money back?

If you let us know that you are having difficulties paying back a Housing Benefit overpayment, we can arrange to recover the debt over a longer period of time. This can be done by reducing the weekly amount that we recover from your ongoing benefit, or by arranging a payment plan for your invoice. You may need to complete an income and expenditure form so we can work out what you can afford to repay.

Income and Expenditure form (PDF Document, 0.1 Mb)

What should I do if I am having difficulties in paying Council Tax instalments because a Council Tax benefit overpayment has been added to my bill?

If you are having difficulty in paying your Council Tax instalments you should contact the Council Tax section immediately.