What if I have been paid too much benefit?

An overpayment occurs if you have been paid more Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit than the amount that you are entitled to. Any change in your circumstances may reduce your benefit entitlement e.g.

An increase in your income

Someone moving in with you

You moving out of the property

If an overpayment arises, Benefits Services is duty bound to recover the money unless the Benefit Service accepts the overpayment is due to local authority error and it unreasonable to expect that you were aware that the overpayment was occurring at the time you received benefit. .

The Council can recover the overpayment from

The claimant (and in some circumstances their partner)

Someone acting on behalf of the claimant

The person to whom it was paid to (including a landlord or their agent in Housing Benefit cases)

The Council can use several methods to recover the overpayment e.g.

Deduction from a claimant’s ongoing Housing Benefit entitlement by a set amount each week depending on the level of your income. You will need to pay an extra amount to your landlord/rent account to make up the shortfall in benefit.

Reducing Housing Benefit entitlement paid to a landlord or agent on your behalf. Again, you will need to pay an extra amount to your landlord to make up the shortfall in benefit.

Issuing an invoice if you no longer qualify for Housing Benefit. An arrangement can be made to repay the debt in instalments by contacting the Overpayments Department on 023 80832250.

Deduction from certain Social Security Benefits.

Recovery from a deceased persons estate

If you have an overpayment of Council Tax Benefit this will be added to your Council Tax account and a new Council Tax bill will be issued with revised instalments.

If you have been overpaid Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit there are some circumstances in which this could be reduced by “underlying entitlement”.

This is not an award of benefit, but a calculation of what you would have been entitled to had your benefit been assessed on the correct information. This means that the amount you have to pay back is reduced because the actual overpayment is the difference between the amount of benefit you actually received less any amount that on review it is decided you were entitled to based on your new circumstances.

In order to calculate potential underlying entitlement, we would need to know what your circumstances were for the period of the overpayment and you would be asked for proof of the income that you were in receipt of.

You have one calendar month from the date you are notified of the overpayment in which to make an appeal. Recovery of the overpayment will not start until the appeal process has been completed.

If you inform Benefit Services that you are having difficulties making repayments, we can review any arrangement after you complete an Income and Expenditure form.

If you are having difficulty in paying your Council Tax instalments you should contact the Council Tax Department on 023 80 833006.