Pay your Housing Benefit overpayment

A benefit overpayment happens when the you are paid benefit which you are not entitled to.

This might be because:

• you forgot to tell us that your income has increased if you had a pay rise or a change in tax credits
• somebody may have moved into or out of your home
• the circumstances of other adults living with you have changed
• you may have moved out of your home and not told us
• you may have started work or changed jobs

Do not rely on anyone else to tell us about any changes. You are required by law to tell us.

If you have been overpaid, we will write to you to tell you how your entitlement has changed and the date the award has changed from.

If we are asking you to repay the overpayment, we will tell you this in the decision letter and include advice about how you should pay.

Paying back an overpayment

You can pay back a benefit overpayment by:

• weekly deductions from any continuing entitlement to benefit. We may deduct up to £13.95 each week from your ongoing benefit (more if you are working)
• paying an amount in person, by phone or online

If you do not repay your overpayment as arranged, we may take legal action against you or employ a recovery agent to pursue the debt.

Council Tax benefits and Council Tax reduction recovery are through your Council Tax account. We will add your overpayment back to your account and send you an adjusted demand notice.

Difficulty paying

Contact us as soon as possible if you are finding it difficult to repay the money you owe us. We may be able to come to an alternative arrangement to help you repay.

We also offer a free, confidential budgeting and debt management service that could help you repay this and other debts. Contact us for more information.

Pay your housing benefit overpayment online