Should I keep my bacs remittance advice slips for housing benefit?

gilbutre

Hi everyone,

I've got a stack of bacs remittance advice slips for housing benefit that I'd rather bin. I've never had to use those: is it important to keep them?

fluffymovie

I always suggest people keep paperwork related to payments they have received for 2 years but this is a personal thing. The HB office would be able to detail any payments you had received if needed so personally, I don't see the need - in my LA, we don't actually send out remittaces for claimant payments and only for our very large landlords!

[Deleted User]

I keep mine for 6 months,you might be able to ask that they send them as emails

gilbutre

Thank! I think I'll do that too, keeping them for 6 months.

rogerblack

I would strongly recommend keeping for 6 years, and ideally longer. Unfortunately, debts owed to the government can go beyond the statutory limit, and often they may turn up in future with an allegation of overpayment, with no other data available.
Keep it all, or at least scan/take pictures of it before disposing of, and securely back those up.

gilbutre

I've read dreadful stories about overpayment. I haven't thought about that, I'll follow your advice instead actually. Thanks rogerblack!