Benefit overpayments

An overpayment is where we have paid you (or your landlord) more benefit than you were entitled to.

If your circumstances change, the amount of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support you are entitled to may also change.

If the amount of benefit is lower than it was before, this may result in us paying you too much benefit, and if this happens, you will have to repay the overpayment to us. You can avoid an overpayment if you know a change is going to take place by telling us before it happens or as soon as the change happens. 

Overpayments usually happen because we are not aware you have had a change in your circumstances for example

• your income has increased
• you have moved to another home
• somebody has moved in or out of your home
• there has been a change to your other benefits
• you have been given, won or inherited money

If you have a Housing Benefit overpayment, we will write to you explaining

• the amount you need to pay back
• how you need to repay the overpayment
• your rights of appeal

If you are still entitled to Housing Benefit then we will recover the overpayment from your weekly benefit payments.

If you are no longer entitled to benefits, we will send you an invoice with payment instructions.

If you have received an invoice and would like to make a payment, you can repay online using a credit or debit card.

Make a benefit payment 

Council Tax Support overpayments

If you get too much Council Tax Support, we will add the incorrect amount to your Council Tax account. You will then have to pay this back to us, along with the rest of your Council Tax bill.

If you are having problems paying the money back, see advice from the Revenues Team