Housing & Council Tax Benefit - Overpayments

Description

What is an overpayment?

An overpayment is when we pay you an amount of Housing or Council Tax Benefit, but you were not entitled to receive either some or all of it.  If we have paid you too much benefit, we will usually ask you to pay back the amount you have been overpaid.

It is the Council’s policy to pursue all overpayments that are recoverable

How do overpayments happen?

When you claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit or have a change in your circumstances, we work out your benefit and make every effort to make sure payments are accurate.
In some circumstances, we may have to work out your benefit again because you have had a change in circumstances or we have found we have made a mistake. If your benefit goes down and we have already paid you a higher amount there will be an overpayment.
Some examples of why an overpayment could have happened are:
• You may have forgotten to tell us that your income has increased, for example, you have had a pay rise, or your tax credit award or pension amount has increased.
• Somebody may have moved into or out of your home.
• You may have moved out of your former home and not told us.
• You may have started work or changed jobs.
• If you have other adults living with you, their circumstances may have changed.
• We may have made a mistake and corrected it later.
• There may have been a short delay between you telling us about a change and us amending your benefit award

You must tell us about any changes and not rely on anyone else to do it for you. Even if you have told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or Job Centre about your change in circumstances, you must still tell the Council because it is the Council that deals with Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, not anyone else. 
If we pay you too much benefit by mistake this can be recovered if we think it was reasonable for you to have known about it. 
If we pay you too much benefit because you did not tell us about a change in your circumstances then we will always recover the overpaid benefit.

How do we recover overpayments?

• If you are still getting Housing Benefit, we will reduce your benefit each week to recover the overpayment.  Remember, if the benefit we pay towards your rent is reduced you will have to pay the amount of money we deduct to your landlord from your wages or other benefits.
• If you pay Berneslai Homes rent and your rent account is in credit, we may ask them to transfer this credit to us to pay back the overpayment.
• If we are not paying you Housing Benefit, we will send you a bill and you must make arrangements to repay us.
• If we paid your landlord your benefit, we might ask them to repay the overpayment, but only in certain circumstances.
• We can ask the DWP to take money from your other benefits to collect the overpayment.
• Where you move out of the area, your new Council can take money from any Housing Benefit paid to you.
• If we overpaid your Council Tax Benefit, we will add the amount of the overpayment to your Council Tax bill. Our Council Tax office will collect the overpayment by increasing your monthly payments.

Is your overpayment correct?

In some circumstances we can reduce the amount you have been overpaid if you tell us about your correct circumstances during the period of the overpayment. If we do this it is called ‘underlying entitlement’. If you have an underlying entitlement (which means you could have received some benefit, but not all that we paid) we can use this to reduce the overpayment. 

What can you do if you cannot afford to repay the overpayment?

If you want us to reduce the amount we take from your Housing Benefit contact us straight away.   Our contact numbers are on the back of your invoice, and further down this page.

If we have sent you an invoice and you cannot pay the full amount, you can arrange to pay it back in instalments.  You should ring us straight away to do this.  Before arranging to repay by instalments, you may need to give us details of your income and outgoings.

If you do not contact us to arrange to pay, or you stop making payments we may refer the overpayment to a debt collection agency, or register your debt with the County Court and ask them to force you to pay it back. This is the same as having a court order against you and it will affect your credit rating. We will also add court costs to the amount you owe us. 

You can only make arrangements to repay Housing Benefit overpayments with the Overpayment Recovery section.  Call 01226 774691 or 01226 774781 to speak to a member of staff.  

Overpaid Council Tax Benefit

Overpayment of Council Tax Benefit is usually taken back directly from your Council Tax Account. You will receive a new Council Tax bill with more to pay each month.

If you have a problem paying Council Tax you must contact us to make an arrangement. If you have a problem paying the installments asked for, please contact the Council Tax helpline for advice - 01226 774774.  If you don’t pay or contact us, we may issue you a court order or send bailiffs to recover the amount you owe. We will add court costs to the amount you owe us.

Methods of Payments Available

You can repay overpayments of housing benefit by various methods please
Click on Payment Methods to obtain further details

How can you help?

To avoid overpayments make sure you always give us correct information, and report any changes in circumstances as soon as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why have you sent me a bill for an overpayment of benefit when you paid the benefit to my landlord?

Housing Benefit to help pay rent can sometimes be paid directly to landlords instead of the person claiming the benefit.
If an overpayment of benefit occurs where payments were made to your landlord the overpayment is recoverable from both you and the landlord.  The Council look at who the benefit was paid to, why the overpayment occurred, who caused the overpayment and whether that person would have known they were being overpaid before deciding who should repay an overpayment.
If you have a change in your personal circumstances, such as starting work or starting to get tax credits, it is not reasonable for a landlord to know about such changes. The overpayment decision where this is the case will normally be to recover from you as the person that claimed benefit and declared that they would inform the Council of those changes.

What can I do if I do not agree with the overpayment?

If you do not agree with an overpayment, or are not sure about it, you can ring us on 01226 774743 and ask us to explain the decision. You can also request a written statement of the reasons. You must do this in writing within one month of the date of the overpayment letter.
If you do not want an explanation, or you have had an explanation and still disagree with the overpayment decision you can ask us to look at the decision again.  You must write to us within one month of our decision letter explaining exactly what part of the decision you disagree with and giving all your reasons, if you do not say what you think is wrong it cannot be considered. 

A different officer to the one that made the original decision will look at the decision and decide if it is right or not.  A letter new is sent to you explaining the decision and telling you if the decision has been changed, or if it has stayed the same.
If you disagree with a decision or still disagree you can also appeal to the Tribunal Service. If you want to appeal to the Tribunal Service you must write within one month of receiving your decision letter, or the letter from the officer that looked at the decision again, explaining in full what you do not agree with, or still disagree with.  
The Tribunal Service will consider your case at a tribunal hearing. You can attend the hearing if you want to and the case is decided on the evidence provided by you and by the Council.
Your right to dispute decisions is explained on the back of your decision letter, in our leaflet ‘What to do if you think our decision is wrong’ and on the Councils website www.barnsley.gov.uk.

Help

For other helpful information, including:-

Helplines
Locations and opening times
Self service access to view your Benefit Details Online

Click on the link to Benefit Enquiries

E-mail bentax@barnsley.gov.uk

Benefits helpline 01226 774743

Council Tax Helpline 01226 774774

Council Tax Recoveries Helpline 01226 774696

Overpayment Recovery helpline 01226 773736 or 774781

Websites

Housing Benefit Appeals
Appeals Form
Welfare Rights
Citizens Advice Bureau

What help is available?

Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) – give free, confidential and unbiased advice on debt. Barnsley CAB is based at 1 Shambles Street, Barnsley.  Their contact number is 01226 206492.
National Debtline – is a free helpline for people with debt problems. Phone 0808 808 4000 or visit www.nationaldebtline.co.uk
Consumer Credit Counselling Service – give a free, confidential service to help you work out realistic solutions to your debt problems, they can help you avoid becoming bankrupt and show you how to manage your money.  Phone 0800 138 1111 or visit www.cccs.co.uk

Other useful organisations:

Housing Advice
Telephone 01226 773870

Welfare Rights
You can contact Welfare Rights through Barnsley Connects on 01226 775656, or on free phone 0800 9153339 between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Legislation

Housing Benefit Regulations 2006

Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006

Housing Benefit (persons that have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006

Council Tax Benefit (persons that have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006

Data Protection Act 1998

 

 

 

Last modified on 26/1/2010