Overpayments

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If you fail to tell us about a change in your circumstances, we may end up paying you too much housing benefit or council tax benefit.

This could happen if you have a change to your circumstances which means your entitlement to benefit is reduced, if you do not notify us of your change we will continue to pay your housing benefit based on your old circumstances.

If this happens, you may be asked to repay the extra money in full.

For more information on Housing/Council Tax benefit overpayments, please contact us.

Here are answers to the following questions:

• What changes does the council need to know about?
• What happens if we find we’ve overpaid you?
• Will you make me repay the money?
• How will I make my repayments?
• What if I disagree with your decision?

What changes does the council need to know about?

These are some examples of the changes you must tell us about:

• change of address
• a change to your rent
• children who leave school or start working
• adults who move in or out of your home
• marriage, separation or divorce
• if you or your partner if you have one, or anyone else in your household has a change in income
• if you or your partner if you have one, has an increase in capital or savings

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What happens if we find we’ve overpaid you?

If we have paid you too much housing benefit, council tax benefit or second adult rebate we will write and tell you. The letter will tell you:

• who the overpayment relates to
• the period the overpayment covers
• the reason for the overpayment
• how much you have been overpaid
• how we worked out the overpayment
• how to go about paying this back (i.e. deductions from your current entitlement if still in payment/being invoiced)
• how you can appeal

If we have been paying your housing benefit directly to your landlord, we may ask the landlord to repay it instead of you. If this happens we will write to both yourself and your landlord.

If your council tax benefit has been overpaid, we will recalculate your council tax charge and a new bill will be sent to you. Your council tax instalment may increase.

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Will you make me repay the money?

We will look carefully at how and why the overpayment happened before deciding whether to claim the money back, and we will give you a fair chance to have the decision reviewed before asking for it. If you agree the overpayment is correct, we will arrange a repayment plan with you.

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How will I make my repayments?

For housing benefit overpayments, if you are still entitled to housing benefit we will take deductions from your ongoing entitlement which means your entitlement will be reduced and you should pay the shortfall to your rent.

If you are no longer in receipt of housing benefit you will be sent an invoice with advice on how to pay back the overpayment.

If you are a landlord receiving direct payments, we may deduct the money from your future payments or, alternatively, you may receive an invoice asking for repayment. We will write to you with details advising of what action will be taken.

For council tax overpayments your council tax charge will be adjusted and an amended bill will be issued.

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What if I disagree with your decision?

You can ask for a revision of the decision, as long as you do it in writing within one month of the date we wrote to you about the overpayment, If, after this, you still disagree you may still appeal. For more information about appeals please use the link below.

Council tax and housing benefit - how to appeal

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