Housing Benefit Overpayment

clairabell

Hi There,

Can anyone tell me what the legal limits are for paying back an over payment of housing benefits please.

Irn-Bru-Kid

I would imagine there are no 'legal limits'.

If you have been overpaid benefit from the council, they will expect every penny back. And do their damnedest to get it from you.

To get advice from the experts on here, you will probably need to supply some more information.

clairabell

There are legal limits to how much they can take back per week from you just cant find out what they are.

Irn-Bru-Kid

I see. Your initial post wasn't that clear. I thought you meant the total they can claw back.

No doubt someone will be along that can point you in the right direction.

How much are they trying to get from you weekly?

Shelldean

our limit is I believe up £15 a week, but they will take smaller amounts over a longer period. This is from an ongoing claim, they simply reduce future payments. But dont know if this would be the same for a finalised claim.

Shelldean

says the following on Direct Gov but makes no mention of amounts...

How you pay back overpayments

If you're no longer in receipt of the benefit that was overpaid, you'll usually receive a bill to cover the overpayments.
Before you start making repayments, you'll be given time to:

• say if you think the decision to make you repay the money is wrong
• agree a payment plan with the office that deals with your benefit

If you are still in receipt of benefit, a certain amount will be taken off your benefit until you've paid back all the overpayment. You have the right of appeal against most overpayments; deductions will normally be made from your benefit one calendar month from the date you were told about the overpayment.

you might want to try and see if anything is mentioned in this guide...
GUIDE

Shelldean

and the following is MY councils amounts of benefit overpayment recovery......

How is benefit recovered from the tenant?

If you are still eligible to receive Housing Benefit, we make deductions from your weekly entitlement to reduce your overpayment, even if you have moved from our borough and claim Housing Benefit from another Local Authority.

There are standard rates of recovery depending on your circumstances.

• For claimants receiving Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance, the basic recovery rate is £10.20 per week.

• For working claimants we can take deductions of £10.20 plus 50% of any income disregards used to assess their claim

• For Fraud overpayments the basic rate of recovery is £13.60 per week for claimants in receipt of Income Support or Job Seekers and £13.60 per week plus 50% of disregards for working claimants.

Where we are making deductions from your Housing Benefit entitlement and you feel the deduction is causing you extreme hardship, you can write to us and explain your circumstances and ask us to reconsider the level of deduction we are taking. You may find it useful to give us a picture of your income and outgoings using the financial statement below.
If you no longer receive Housing Benefit we will send you a bill asking for repayment. If you cannot afford to clear the overpayment in one lump sum you are invited to contact us to discuss repayment by instalments. You can pay by standing order, over the phone using debit or credit cards, via the Internet or in person in banks, the post office or the Council Offices using cash slips.
When coming to an arrangement to repay the overpayment with you, we will consider your household incomes and outgoings, other debts you are repaying or commitments you have. We may ask you to complete a financial statement, which you can view or download below, to tell us about your circumstances.
Recovery of an overpayment will not prejudice any criminal proceedings that may be taken by the council in respect of fraudulent overpayments.

clairabell

Thank you, thats a great help :-)

fluffymovie

It's 10.65 per week for those on income support and jsa.

If you work, we add 50% of the earnings disregard to this.