Overpayments

[Legislation 74]

• Misrepresentation and false disclosure
• Late changes
• Temporary changes
• Late payment of other benefits
• Late payment of other income
• Recovery of overpayment of other benefits
• What if overpayments are disputed?
• How are overpayments recovered?
• Repayment by instalments
• Repayment by partner
• Repayment of other benefits

This section looks at the different kinds of overpayments and how we recover these payments. The different circumstances that can lead to an overpayment are explained below.

Misrepresentation and false disclosure

If we have paid a customer too much because they told us something which was not true, or did not tell us about something which we needed to know about, they may have to repay any money they are not entitled to.

Late changes

If we have paid too much because it was impossible to change the payment into the customer’s account in time, they may have to repay any money they are not entitled to.

Temporary changes

If a customer’s circumstances change temporarily and this means they get a payment of Pension Credit to which they are not fully entitled, they may have to pay some of it back. This might happen, for example, if a part-time job pays more than usual one week.

Late payment of other benefits

Pension Credit is sometimes paid when a customer or their partner has claimed a social security benefit, such as Incapacity Benefit or State Pension, but it has not yet been paid. Normally, the arrears of that benefit will be adjusted to recover the Pension Credit already paid. If it has not been possible to do this, the money can be recovered in any of the ways described below.

Late payment of other income

If Pension Credit has been paid because other income that has to be taken into account was not paid on time, customers may be asked to repay it. An example would be if they normally get a pension from abroad, but the payment stopped and they asked for their Pension Credit to be increased. If they start getting the pension again, and they get arrears, we will ask them to repay the extra Pension Credit they got.

Recovery of overpayment of other benefits

If customers have been overpaid Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit their local authority will normally deal with this. However, in some cases the local authority can ask us to make the recovery by deductions from certain other social security benefits, including Pension Credit.

What if overpayments are disputed?

Your customer can dispute or appeal if they disagree with any of the following decisions:

• there has been an overpayment
• the amount of the overpayment,
• the overpayment is recoverable from them.

See What to do if your customer thinks a decision is wrong for more information.

How are overpayments recovered?

If your customer has been paid too much Pension Credit and the decision maker decides that it is recoverable, they will have to repay it. Your customer can do this in one of these ways:

• by paying a lump-sum
• by having weekly deductions made from their Pension Credit,
• by having deductions made from most social security benefits.

We may also keep back any arrears due to your customer so we can reduce the overpayment.

Repayment by instalments

If your customer no longer receives Pension Credit or does not get other social security benefits and cannot repay in one lump-sum, we will normally ask them to repay by instalments. If we cannot agree a repayment plan we may, as a last resort, take your customer to the civil court.

Repayment by partner

If your customer’s partner later applies for Pension Credit instead and benefit continues to be paid for both of them, they may have to carry on repaying the overpayment by deductions from their Pension Credit.

Repayment of other benefits

If your customer has been overpaid some other benefit and the decision maker decides that it is recoverable, it can be taken from their Pension Credit payment by weekly deductions if they no longer get the other benefit.