What if you pay me too much Benefit?

This is called an ‘Overpayment’. An overpayment is an amount of Benefit that has been paid, but for which there was no entitlement under the rules and regulations for Housing & Council Tax Benefit – in other words, where you have been paid more Benefit than you are actually entitled to.

An overpayment of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit usually occurs when your circumstances have changed but we (the Council) were not made aware of these changes. (See What changes do I need to report?)

• Reasons for an Overpayment of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit
• Recovering an Overpayment of Housing Benefit from a Tenant
• Recovering an Overpayment of Housing Benefit from a Landlord (Housing Association or Private)
• What if I disagree with the decision about an Overpayment?
• What if the Overpayment is not repaid?
• How are Council Tax Benefit Overpayments repaid?
• How to pay an Overpayment

For more information see the leaflet A guide to Overpayments and Debt (pdf)

Reasons for an Overpayment of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit

The list below provides some of the common reasons for an Overpayment of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit:

• Where we have been given the wrong information
• Where you have not told us something that we needed to know
• Where you have been slow to tell us of a change in your circumstances
• Where we may have been slow to deal with something that you told us
• We may have made a mistake
• Where we have awarded Council Tax Benefit - we pay to cover the entire financial year. It is likely that a change in circumstances may occur and that your Council Tax Account has been credited with too much Council Tax Benefit for the year.

Enfield’s Revenues and Benefits Service has a duty to safeguard public funds and will normally seek to recover any overpayments that occur. An overpayment is recoverable from either the person who has caused the overpayment, or the person who has received the benefit. If we give you too much benefit, we will send you a letter.
The letter will tell you:
• why you were paid too much benefit;
• how much the overpayment is;
• if you have to pay back the amount; and
• what you can do if you disagree with our decision

Recovering an Overpayment of Housing Benefit from a Tenant

If a tenant is currently receiving Housing Benefit, we can take money out of each week's benefit to recover the overpayment until the amount owed has been cleared.

If a tenant stops being entitled to Housing Benefit altogether, we will send the tenant an invoice for the amount of overpaid Housing Benefit or may recover the overpayment from other ongoing state Benefits that the tenant may be receiving.

The Recovery of an Overpayment will not prejudice any criminal proceedings that may be taken by the Council in respect of fraudulent Overpayments.

Recovering an Overpayment from a Landlord. (Housing Association or Private Landlord).

If Housing Benefit is being paid direct to the Landlord the amount of Housing Benefit that the Landlord will receive may be reduced until the Overpayment has been cleared. The tenant will be responsible for paying any rent arrears that occur as a result of the reduced amount paid to the Landlord.

If an overpayment of Housing Benefit was made direct to the Landlord and the tenant’s entitlement to Housing Benefit ended, an invoice to recover the overpayment will be sent to the Landlord.

The Recovery of an Overpayment will not prejudice any criminal proceedings that may be taken by the Council in respect of fraudulent Overpayments.

A Landlord who habitually fails to repay overpayments that are recoverable from them can be deemed by the Council to not be fit and proper to receive HB payments. Under the regulations governing Housing Benefit, the Council can refuse to make direct payments of Benefits to that Landlord.

What if I disagree with the decision about an Overpayment?

For more information on the Dispute Process please look at the Section entitled “What if I Disagree with a decision about my Benefit?” (Benefit Appeals)

A tenant can ask for a review of the decision to calculate an Overpayment. Any such request should be made within one month of the decision notice being sent to the Tenant.

A Landlord can request a review when the recovery of an overpayment is being sought from the Landlord personally; where an invoice for payment has been issued to them or a deduction is being made from the Benefit that they receive for one of their tenants in order to recover an overpayment owed by the landlord in respect of another tenant.

In the instance where the Landlord personally owes the overpayment, the Landlord will be notified in writing of the decision made to recover the overpayment from them. Any request for a Review should be made within one month of the decision notice

A Landlord can write to us at any time requesting a written statement of the reasons why an overpayment is being recovered from them.

What happens if the Overpayment is not re-paid?

If an Overpayment was made direct to the landlord and the tenant stopped being entitled to Housing Benefit altogether, the amount of Housing Benefit received by the Landlord in respect of other tenants may be reduced. In these instances the other tenant will be notified, and it is not their responsibility to make up any shortfall in rent due to the overpayment being recovered.

Where an invoice addressed to a Landlord remains unpaid, or an agreed arrangement to repay the debt over time is not being maintained, we may take action in the County Court.

How are Council Tax Benefit Overpayments recovered?

Council Tax Benefit Overpayments will be added to your Council Tax Account and a new bill will be issued to you.

How to pay an Overpayment

A Housing Benefit overpayment can be recovered from your ongoing Housing Benefit entitlement or from some other benefits such as Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance.

If you have no other benefits for the overpayment to be recovered from we will send you an invoice. If you cannot afford to repay the overpayment in one lump sum you can contact the housing benefit service to discuss repayment by instalments. Invoice pay arrangement help line: 020 8379 4174

You can repay your overpayment by the following methods:
• by cash at the Civic Centre;
• by cheque at the Civic Centre or by post; Enfield Council, PO Box 63, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield EN1 3XW
• by credit or debit card at the Civic Centre or by phone;
• Payment line:020 379 1000
• by standing order

You will need to quote your invoice number and your account number when making a payment using any of the above methods (your invoice or your agreed instalment letter will have these details).

A Council Tax Benefit overpayment will be added to your Council Tax account. You will be sent a new bill that includes the overpayment.

This document was last updated on 2008-05-14 17:41:19 published by the Revenues and Benefits team. Document Reference:LBE_130546