Pay back a Housing Benefit overpayment

You must let us know if you have been paid:

• a Housing Benefit you were not supposed to get
• more Housing Benefit money than you should have been given

This is called a benefits overpayment. If this happens, you must give the money back to us.

You may get a benefits overpayment if:

• you gave us the wrong information when you applied for benefits
• you did not tell us about a change in your circumstances
• you should no longer be getting benefits, but you did not let us know
• we made a mistake
• information that you gave us was not taken into account

You will find out about a benefits overpayment if you:

• are given more money in benefits than you expected
• get a letter from us saying that you have been paid too much

If you're continuing to receive Housing Benefit and we have paid you too much, you do not need to do anything.

We will take back any money you owe us by making weekly deductions from your future payments.

If you're no longer receiving Housing Benefit, we will send you an invoice detailing how you can pay this money back including the option to use the payment form below.

You can pay back the money in one go online.

Alternatively, you can spread the payments out in instalments.

Complete the contact us form, if you'd like to talk about paying back an overpayment in instalments.

If we say you've been paid too much in Housing Benefit and you're not happy with that decision, you can:

• ask for an explanation, this can be in writing or by calling us
• ask us to reconsider if you think your claim has been calculated incorrectly, tell us what is wrong with your claim and supply any supporting evidence
• appeal against our decision, however we will always check your claim before sending your appeal to the Tribunal Services

Saying that you want to appeal is not enough, you must let us know your reasons and why you think our decision is wrong.