An overpayment is caused when you have been paid more benefit than you are entitled to.
Overpayments usually happen when you do not tell us about a change in your circumstances as soon as it happens. Changes we need to be told about are:
To help us get your benefit right, tell us about any changes in circumstances straight away.
A fraudulent overpayment may occur when a person has:
The sanctions available to the council are:
We have a duty to recover overpayments. When recovering, we will consider the method of recovery and whom we should recover the overpayment from.
We can recover the overpayment from:
We can recover almost all overpayments unless the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have made a mistake. There is also an exception if you could not be expected to know there had been an overpayment.
If you have been overpaid, we will write to you with details of:
An invoice will be sent if a Housing Benefit overpayment has occurred.
A Council Tax bill will be sent if Council Tax Support has been overpaid.
You can pay an overpayment in one of two ways.
If you do not agree with our decision, you can ask us to look at it again or appeal. If you wish to do this, you must write to us within one month of the date of our decision notice.
You can also pay back an overpayment via phone by calling 01590 646121. Have your invoice number and bank account details ready.
If you are in financial hardship, you may be able to repay the overpayment at a reduced amount. If you wish to do this, call us on 01590 646121.
Failure to repay an overpayment may result in further action being taken. We can attempt recovery by any of the following methods.
We are here to help. Should you get into any difficulties with your repayments, call our Benefits Team on 01590 646121 or email benefits@nfdc.gov.uk
The Government and The Money Advice Service has set up a new online tool aimed at helping people with their budgets and managing their debt. Find out where to get free debt advice.