Housing Benefit Overpayments
How we provide this service
If your circumstances change you may have been paid/awarded too much housing benefit. Information on Housing Benefit Overpayments is supported by Finance, Benefits and Revenues.
An example would be if a claimant failed to tell the Council that their income had increased, and a recalculation of their entitlement meant that they had been paid too much Benefit.
A fraudulent overpayment may occur when a person has deliberately provided a false statement or document, or has deliberately failed to report a change of circumstances with the intention of obtaining or retaining Benefit.
You must tell us straight away about any change(s) in your circumstance(s). You can do this by completing a changes and corrections form.
If you have been overpaid housing benefit, we will notify you about the overpayment within 14 days of the decision (or as soon as reasonably practical). The letter will tell you the period of the overpayment, the reason, the amount and give you your appeal rights.
Underlying entitlement
In some cases we may be able to reduce the amount of the overpayment if you provide us with details of your circumstances for the period of the overpayment. This is called underlying entitlement. We will write to you if this applies. If you do not provide the details we ask for within one month we will write to you to tell you how to pay back the money to us.
Paying back overpaid housing benefit
We may ask either you or the person who received the payments to pay back the overpayment.
How is benefit recovered from the tenant?
- If you are still getting housing benefit we will make deductions from this. The standard deduction for year 2010/11 is £9.90 a week, but the law allows us to deduct more in some cases. We will tell you in writing how much we will deduct each week. If we do this you will have more rent to pay each week until the overpayment has been paid back
- If you live in a council house and no longer get housing benefit we will move the overpayment to a housing benefit overpayment account. When you pay your rent the amount you owe will be shown on the back of your rent card. You will need to make payments to this account as well as paying your rent.
- If you a renting your house from a private landlord and you are no longer getting housing benefit, we will send you/your landlord an invoice for the debt.
- If you leave the area and owe us money, we can ask your new council to recover the money on our behalf if you are claiming in that area.
- If you are no longer getting housing benefit we can ask the Department of Works and Pensions to recover the money for us from your social security benefit, for example Job Seekers Allowance, State Retirement Pension (this list is not exhaustive).
How is benefit recovered from the landlord?
- Sending an invoice for the full amount of the debt
- Make deductions from any benefit(s) your landlord may be claiming
- Keep some/all of the money we are paying for other tenants. The amount kept should not be treated as rent arrears for those tenants, and the landlord must not try to recover the shortfall from them.
What will happen if the overpayment is not repaid?
Where an invoice addressed to a tenant or a landlord remains unpaid, or an agreed arrangement to repay the debt over time is not being maintained, the Council may take action in the County Court.
Fax: 01775 711253
Email: benefits@sholland.gov.uk
Address: South Holland District Council, Benefit and Revenues Team, PO Box 8, Priory Road, Spalding, Lincs. PE11 2XQ
How long will the whole process take?
We will send you notification of the overpayment within 14 days (or as soon as reasonably practical) of the decision being made.
Contact Name for this service
Tracey Howes, Systems & Overpayments Officer
Telephone number for this service
01775 761161
Links to forms, leaflets and websites providing more information
Please refer to the Housing Benefit Appeals A-Z page.
Download a Changes and Corrections form (PDF).
Common Questions
Q. What causes an overpayment?
A. A change in your circumstances may reduce your benefit. This could be for a number of reasons:
- any change in your earnings
- any change in savings
- any change in pension, annuity or superannuation
- anyone who goes into hospital for a long period of time
- a change of room number or address
- a child who leaves school
- anyone who moves into your home, other than for a holiday
- anyone who no longer lives in your home
This list does not cover all changes that may affect your benefit. If you are not sure whether a change in circumstances will affect your benefit you must contact the benefit section for advice.
Q. How can I avoid being overpaid?
A. You must tell us straight away about any change in your circumstances. This includes any change in your income, capital or household.
Q. Why do I have to pay back money when my landlord received the housing benefit payments?
A. The law states that we can ask either the claimant or the person who received the money to pay back any overpaid housing benefit. Therefore, we can ask the claimant to pay back the overpaid housing benefit, even if they did not receive the payments. This is because we sent your housing benefit direct to your landlord for payment of your rent on your behalf.
Q. I am a landlord, and I suspect my tenant should not be receiving benefit. What shall I do?
A. You must tell us straight away if you suspect your tenant is claiming benefit to which he/she is not entitled. If we have paid too much benefit, we will not ask you to pay it back provided the tenant appears guilty of fraud and you are not involved in any way.
Q. I am a council tenant, and I have been overpaid housing benefit. Does this mean I have rent arrears?
A. No, overpayments of benefit are not rent arrears. If you are still entitled to housing benefit we will make deductions from this to help pay back your housing benefit overpayment. This will mean you will need to make additional payments to your rent account to avoid falling into rent arrears.
If you are no longer getting housing benefit we will send the debt to a Housing Benefit overpayment account, which is kept separate from your rent account. Your housing benefit overpayment account is shown on the back of your rent card.
You will need to make payments to this as well as your rent account.
Q. What if the overpayment was due to a mistake made by the council?
A. If the council make a mistake (for example we use the wrong income in the benefit calculation), we can still ask you to pay back any overpaid benefit to us.
The only exception to this is if at the time of notification, you could not reasonably have known that a mistake had been made. We do not have to prove that you did know, only that you could have known.
Further Common Questions
Q. What do I do if I think the overpayment is wrong?
A. Firstly, check the income and reason used for the period of the overpayment are correct. You can find these on the decision letters.
After checking the details, if you still think the decision is wrong you have one month from the date of the decision letter to dispute it. For more information please refer to benefit appeals
Q. Can I appeal against the decision to recover the overpayment?
A. You have a right of appeal against:
- whether the overpayment is recoverable
- whom the overpayment is to be recovered from
You have one month from the date of the decision letter to dispute the above decisions. Please refer to benefit appeals.
However, you do not have a right of appeal against:
- whether the overpayment should be recovered
- the recovery rate
- the method of recovery
Q. What can I do if I cannot afford to pay back overpaid housing benefit?
A. We will take into consideration the health and financial circumstances of the person before deductions are made to make sure hardship is not caused either directly to that person or to any of their dependants.
Therefore, if paying back the overpayment(s) is causing you financial hardship, you must contact the Overpayment Officer straight away, who may review the recovery method and/or rate of recovery.
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Contact Details
If you have any queries about the information provided above, or require further information, please contact Customer Services on 01775 761161 or email info@sholland.gov.uk.
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