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Overpayments

What is an overpayment?

The amount of benefit you get to help you pay your rent and council tax depends on what you tell us when you make your claim. If your circumstances change then your housing and council tax benefit may change too.

If your personal circumstances do change, and you do not tell us straight away, we may pay you too much benefit. This is called an overpayment.

Some changes you must tell us about are:

a change in income and/or savings
change of address
children who leave school/start working
adults moving in/out of your home
marriages, separations and divorce

If you do not tell us about a change in your personal circumstances and we pay you too much housing and council tax benefit, we will ask you to pay us the money back. Please see the changes in circumstances page which tells you how to report a change in your circumstances.

Telling you about an overpayment

If you have been overpaid housing and council tax benefit we will write and tell you:

there has been an overpayment of benefit
the reason for the overpayment
the amount of benefit overpaid
how we worked out the overpayment

What happens if I have been overpaid benefit?

We will look at why you were overpaid before we ask you to pay back the money
We will not ask you to repay the overpayment until you have a chance to ask for the decision to be looked at again if you disagree with it.

How can I pay the money back?

If you are still getting housing benefit we may take an amount from your housing benefit to pay the money back. We will write and tell you before we do this and tell you how much we are going to take
If you are experiencing financial hardship and want to repay the overpayment at a reduced amount please contact us
If you are no longer getting housing benefit you will receive an bill for the amount you have been overpaid. This will tell you how you can pay the money back
If you are overpaid council tax benefit, we will give you a new council tax bill which will include the amount you were overpaid.

How can I stop this from happening?

If you know a change is going to take place, tell us in writing before it happens or as soon as the change happens
It is your responsibility to tell us about any change in your circumstances

What if I don't agree with your decision?

You can ask for a decision to recover an overpayment to be looked at again. You must ask us in writing within one calendar month of the date the overpayment letter was sent to you. You can download an appeals form here.

What we will do if we get your appeal against the overpayment decision