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What is an overpayment?
An overpayment is any amount of benefit which has been paid to you but you were not entitled to receive. If we pay you too much benefit, we can usually ask you to pay back what we've overpaid.
This page explains:
Why do overpayments happen?
They happen for various reasons. Here are some examples:
We might have to work out the amount of your benefit again because of a change in your circumstances or because we've found we've made a mistake. If you then get less benefit and we've already paid you the higher amount, there will be an overpayment.
In the case of Council Tax Benefit, we pay benefit for a whole year at the start of the year. It's quite likely that something will change during the year and we will find that we've paid too much, or too little, for the rest of the year.
Please note there may be a delay in the time it takes between a change happening, you telling us and us dealing with it. Even if you tell us straightaway and we deal with it quickly, it is often impossible to avoid some overpayment.
Can you ask me for the money back?
That depends.
We can ask for the money back if it:
For example, if you got a pay rise, you would expect your benefit to go down. In this case, if your benefit doesn't change you should realise something is wrong. We can't ask for it back if it's our fault and you couldn't have realised you were getting too much.
Will you expect me to pay the money back?
It depends.
How do you get the money back?
We can get the money back in the following ways.
From your Council Tax account
For Council Tax Benefit we usually take the overpaid benefit back out of your account and you will get a new Council Tax bill with more to pay.
The Council Tax office will try to collect this money from you, for example, by increasing your monthly instalments. If you don't pay they may get a court order or send bailiffs to your home. So, if you have a problem paying, get in touch with us before it gets serious.
From instalments of your Housing Benefit
For Housing Benefit, if you're still on benefit we can take money out of each week's benefit to recover the overpayments.
There are legal limits to how much we can take each week. If the amount we take each week causes you a problem, please tell us. We might be able to change it and take a smaller amount.
From your rent account, if you are a council tenant
If you are a council tenant and your rent account is in credit, we may take this credit off the account but we won't put your account into arrears.
By using other money we owe you
If we owe you benefit for another period, we can hold on to the money and use it to repay your overpayment. This is called 'offsetting'.
By sending you a bill
We may send you a bill or an overpayment notice letter and you should make arrangements to pay. If you can't pay all at once, we can arrange instalments, so please get in touch.
But if we don't hear from you, we may register the debt with the county court and ask them to enforce it. This is the same as having a court order against you, so it will affect your credit rating.
From your landlord
If we've been paying your benefit to a private landlord or housing association, we may ask them to repay the money. Please visit the Landlords section for more detailed information.
Other ways we can get the money back:
Will you tell me if I've been overpaid?
Yes, we have to tell you about any overpayment and the action we will take.
First, we will write to tell you the new, lower amount of benefit you're entitled to, or we will tell you when you stopped being entitled.
We will also tell you, usually in a separate letter, how much you've been overpaid altogether. This letter may:
Ask us for more details if you don't think it's clear what we've decided. You have a legal right to ask for the reasons for our decision.
Our notice letters will explain your rights relating to each decision and tell you about time limits. The date of our decision is the date on our letter.
What are my rights?
Appeals must be in writing and signed by you. You must make it clear which decision you're appealing against and your reasons for appeal.
Send your appeal directly to us.
There are time limits - appeals must usually reach us within a month of the decision you're appealing against.
Can overpayments be reduced?
Yes, overpayments can sometimes be reduced. Here we give two examples - 'Offsetting' and 'Underlying entitlement'.
Offsetting
After we've decided that you've been overpaid, we may get more information that makes us change our decision. In this case, we'll tell you our new decision about how much you're entitled to.
If this is more than before, the overpayment will be lower than before or you may not have been overpaid after all. We call this 'offsetting'. We offset the extra money due against what we originally decided was overpaid.
Of course, if we've already recovered the overpayment from you, we'll pay you the extra. This situation often happens when someone comes off benefit and starts work.
For example;
Mr Hutton's Jobseeker's Allowance stopped when he started work. By the time we knew, and stopped his Housing Benefit, we'd paid him three weeks' benefit too much at £65 a week. So, the overpayment was three weeks x £65 = £195. Then, when Mr Hutton sent in another claim, we worked out that he was entitled to £23 a week for those weeks because he had low wages.
This meant the overpayment would be less.
He was previously paid £65 a week and was now entitled to £23 a week. That means he was overpaid £42 a week (£65 less £23). So, he was only overpaid £42 for three weeks, which is £126. The overpayment is now only £126 and not £195.
Underlying entitlement
If your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit claim is cancelled, for example, because we have just found out that you were not entitled to Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance for a past period, you will have been overpaid benefit.
However, if you are able to provide evidence of all your income, savings and investments for the period of the overpayment, we can assess the amount of benefit that you would have been entitled to if we had known your correct circumstances at the time.
If we award benefit for the period of an overpayment it is called 'underlying entitlement' and we will use it to reduce the total amount of the overpaid benefit. If we are able to do this, we'll tell you our new decision about how much you're now entitled to.
If this is more than before, the overpayment will be lower than before and you may not have been overpaid after all.
Do I need to tell you if I change address?
Yes, you do need to tell us if you move house. If you change address we will stop benefit at your old address as soon as possible. But payment may have continued after the date you moved.
What we've already paid counts towards what you're entitled to at your new address. This shouldn't be a problem if you've moved with the same landlord, including the council, or if you get your own cheques. But if we've paid your landlord direct, your old landlord will have had the money and this could leave you short with your new landlord. We aim to avoid this as far as possible but we can't avoid it altogether. Your old landlord may be able to keep the money even though it was meant for your new rent.
For example, if:
If payments after you've moved have put you in credit with your old landlord, you should ask them to pay the amount in credit back to you.
If you think we've got it wrong, or it's our fault, you can ask us to look at our decision again, but you cannot appeal to an appeal tribunal about this.
What if there's an overpayment but you've been paying my landlord?
Can I repay overpayments online?
Yes, clicking this link will allow you to repay overpayments over a secure website.
What can I do if I don't agree with your decision?
If you don't agree with our decision, you can ask us to look at it again. Our letters tell you what your rights are. Please see What to do if you disagree with a Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit decision for more detailed information.
Where can I get help?
If you need to find out whether you are eligible for any of these benefits or if you need help completing benefit forms, please get in touch with our Independent Benefit Advisor, Karen Linford.
Phone Karen on 0151 356 6607 or email karen.linford@epnbc.gov.uk
Home visits can be arranged if required.
Advice is also available from Ellesmere Port and Neston's Citizens Advice Bureau.
