Recovery of Housing Benefit Overpayments

A benefit overpayment is when you are given more money than you are entitled to. This may happen if we don’t know your circumstances have changed.

In most cases, we will expect you to pay back any money you were not entitled to.

This may be by:

• an invoice
• reducing your weekly benefit entitlement until the overpaid amount has been cleared.

If you cannot pay the invoice in full or are finding it difficult to meet the difference, please contact us. We may be able to set up an affordable payment instalment plan.

To reduce the chance of an overpayment occurring, make sure you tell the benefit department about any changes in your circumstances immediately.

What is a recoverable overpayment?

All overpayments are recoverable - unless caused by an 'official error'. This means you could not reasonably have known about it when you were paid or told about your benefit.

What is an 'official error'?

Official errors include mistakes by us, Job Centre Plus or The Pension Service. It is not an official error if you, or a person acting for you, caused the mistake by: 

• not giving us information
• giving false or misleading information

What can you do if you disagree with the overpayment?

If you want to know more about a decision or think it’s wrong, get in touch with us. You must do this within 1 month of the date of your notification letter.

You can:

• ask for an explanation
• ask us to look at the decision again
• appeal against the decision (this must be done in writing)

The things you can challenge are:

• if we can recover the overpayment or not
• who we can recover it from
• how we have worked it out

Things you cannot challenge are:

• if we should recover the overpayment from you
• how we choose to recover the overpayment

Can the overpayment be reduced?

If you tell us about your correct circumstances throughout the period of the overpayment, we may be able to reduce the amount you were overpaid. This is called 'underlying entitlement'.

Before we can work out whether you should get any underlying entitlement, we may ask you to fill out a new form to explain your circumstances. We may ask for evidence of your actual income and capital for the overpayment period. You need to supply this information within 1 month of the notice of overpayment.

If we decide you should get some underlying entitlement, we can only reduce the amount of the overpayment. We cannot give you more benefit than the original amount of overpayment.

How can I pay my invoice?

You can make an online payment for your outstanding overpayment. You will need your invoice number which you will find on the invoice letter we have sent to you.

Pay for your Benefit overpayment

I do not know my  invoice number, how can I get this?

Please contact us via email - overpayments@ipswich.gov.uk  or telephone-  01473 433955 and we will be able to provide to you.

What happens if I cannot pay my Overpayment invoice in full?

It is our responsibility to collect the any outstanding overpayment as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you are unable to pay in full and you wish to set a payment arrangement, you will need to complete an income and expenditure form for this to be considered

Income and expenditure form 

As part of the process, we will ask for evidence to support the information you provide in the form.
 

What happens if I don't pay or contact you after the 1st invoice?

We will send you a reminder letter to pay or get in touch with us to make arrangements to pay. After this we will send you one final letter asking you to pay your invoice or to get in touch with us to make a payment arrangement.
 

What happens after the initial invoice, reminder and final letters are sent? 

After all reminders letters are sent, your local district councils are able to take further steps to recover the outstanding debt from you, such as:

•    A Direct Earnings Attachment – DEA (without the need for County Court action). A DEA means that your local district councils will contact your employer and can take money directly from your wages to pay back the debt you owe for the overpayment of Benefit. 
•    By deduction from certain DWP benefits
•    The Council can instruct an Enforcement Agent to collect the debt. 
•    By civil proceedings- Ipswich Borough Council may apply to court to recover any outstanding overpayment of Benefit, which could result in you receiving a County Court Judgement (CCJ). 

What if I have trouble paying the Invoice or instalments? 

Please do not ignore your invoice. If you do not pay, we will take further recovery action. Please contact us to on overpayments@ipswich.gov.u k or 01473 433955.

There are independent advice agencies you can contact that may be able to help. See our debt advice page for more information.
 

Independent advice

• National Debtline
• Citizens Advice
• Step Change Payday Debt Help