Benefits - Overpayments

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• Benefits - Overpayments

General Information on Housing and Council Tax Benefit Overpayments

Housing Benefit overpayments occur when your benefit entitlement is changed and money has already been given to you in the form of Housing Benefit and/or by crediting your Council Tax account.  Overpayments are normally recoverable, this means the Council can seek repayment through the County Court by way of a Judgement Order if the overpayment is not repaid.

What happens if we pay you too much Housing Benefit?

If you are paid too much benefit it is called an overpayment. If you are overpaid we will write and tell you:

• Why you were paid too much benefit
• How much the overpayment is
• How it was calculated
• If you have to repay the overpayment
• What to do if you do not agree with the decision
• How the overpayment can be repaid

Your overpayment should be reduced by any underlying entitlement. Underlying entitlement is where we can look at any other changes which you may not have told us about at the time, to see if we can reduce the total overpayment amount. This means that we can reassess your entitlement to benefit for the same period as the overpayment based on your correct circumstances. You will need to provide proof of your full circumstances to allow us to reassess your entitlement to benefit.

You must always read your entitlement letters to check that the details the Council has used in calculating your claim are correct. You must do this to avoid an overpayment occurring.

If you have been overpaid Housing Benefit, and you are no longer entitled, an invoice will be sent to you (or your landlord if the Council has paid your landlord). It is the Council's decision from whom it recovers the debt, therefore, in some cases even if we have paid your landlord we may decide to recover from you.

How the overpayment can be repaid

Council Tax Benefit

Overpaid Council Tax Benefit is recovered from your Council Tax account in full. We will add the overpaid amount to your account and you will be sent a new Council Tax bill. You will need to contact the Revenues Service to organise repayment if you cannot pay the new instalments.

Housing Benefit

Overpaid Housing Benefit can be recovered in two ways:

• Weekly deductions from your weekly benefit entitlement,
• Invoice and arrangement with our Benefit Recovery Team.
  

Weekly deductions

If you are still entitled to Housing Benefit we will recover your overpayment from your weekly entitlement by deducting an amount per week from your benefit. The basic amount we deduct is £10.20 per week. This will change to £10.65 per week from 1 April 2012. Please be aware that you will need to increase the amount you pay your landlord by this amount.

Invoice

If you are sent a bill for an overpayment you will need to pay this back to the Council. Details of how and when to pay will be included with the bill or you can contact the Benefits Recovery Team on 0208 547 4644 or 0208 547 5638 or email them at benefit.recovery@rbk.kingston.gov.uk
If you cannot pay the bill in full you should contact the Benefits Recovery Team immediately to arrange to pay by instalments.

Appeals

Any appeals must be made in writing to the Benefits Office within one month of you being notified of the overpayment. Please send any correspondence to the following address:

The Benefits Service
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
Guildhall 2
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1EU

Remember, if you are having trouble, tell us. Please do not ignore an unpaid bill. It could cost you more in the end and may lead to court action.