Overpayment of housing benefit or council tax support

An overpayment of benefit is where you have been paid more housing benefit or council tax support than you are entitled to.

An overpayment is usually caused by a change in your circumstances.

How will I know if I have an overpayment?

We will write to you if you are overpaid housing benefit and council tax support. The letter will tell you of the details of the overpayment, the reason why it has occurred, how the overpayment was calculated, the dates that it covers, the amount that you have been overpaid and how we will recover this overpayment. We will also state what you need to do if you disagree with the overpayment.

If your landlord is receiving your housing benefit payments direct to them they will also receive a letter confirming the above, however they may not be told the exact details of the change in circumstances (for example, if you have had an increase in your wages, we will tell the landlord that there has been a change in your income). 

How is the overpayment recovered?

• If you are still receiving housing benefit we may reduce your payments each week by the amount shown on your letter to recover the overpayment. If you feel that the amount that we are recovering from your housing benefit is causing you hardship, you can request in writing that the amount is lowered. If you do this, we may need to ask you for more details
• If you stop receiving housing benefit we may send you an invoice and you will have 28 days from the date of the invoice to repay the amount. If you do not think you can pay within 28 days, you should contact us (see contact details below) immediately to make an arrangement. If we do not receive a payment from you and we have not accepted an arrangement to pay the money back, you will receive a court notice
• If you stop receiving housing benefit and go onto universal credit, any overpayment will be reduced from the two weeks transition payment that is granted when a customer goes from housing benefit to universal credit. If there is still an overpayment after this, the rest of the overpayment will become unrecoverable by the council and will be recovered by the Department for Works and Pensions through your universal credit payments
• If we pay your benefit direct to your landlord, we may ask the landlord to repay the overpayment
• If you have been overpaid council tax support, we shall recover the overpayment from your council tax account and you will receive a revised bill

Last updated: ‎06/11/2024 09:48