Repay Housing Benefit overpayment

An overpayment happens when you are paid Housing Benefit that you are not entitled to. An overpayment can occur for various reasons, such as:

• You have given us the wrong information
• You have not told us about a change in circumstances
• You have delayed telling us about a change in circumstances

You must repay the overpayment.

You can repay overpaid Housing Benefit as:

• Weekly deductions from your weekly benefit entitlement
• Invoice from our benefit recovery team

Terms and conditions

There are a few conditions to using this facility and you should only use the "make a payment" link below if you accept these:

• Your payment will take a minimum of 24 hours to reach your account. This includes time to verify your debit card details with your debit card issuer and for payment to be notified to us
• We cannot accept liability for a payment not reaching the intended account due to a customer quoting an incorrect reference number
• We cannot accept liability if payment is refused or declined by the debit card issuer
• If the debit card issuer declines payment, we are under no obligation to bring this to the customer's attention. Customers should check with their bank/debit card issuer to ensure that payment has been deducted from their relevant account

When you have completed a successful transaction, you will be given a transaction reference number.

Make a payment 

You can pay online, by telephone, cheque and postal orders, as a weekly deduction or a monthly instalment plan.

Pay online

When you follow the payment link below, you will go to our secure payments system.

• You will need to quote your Housing Benefit invoice number as your reference
• For security reasons we are unable to accept payments of more than £2,000 in a single transaction
• By accessing the online payment system you are agreeing to the terms and conditions

Make payment

Telephone

Telephone the automated telephone payment line: 0800 021 7763 (see call charges).

Monthly instalment plan

Contact us to discuss repaying your overpayment on a monthly instalment plan:

• Email: hbrecoveryteam@wandsworth.gov.uk
• Telephone: 020 8871 8081 (9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday).

Cheques and postal orders

These should be made payable to Wandsworth Council.

Ensure you write your name, address and invoice number on the reverse of your cheque or postal order. A receipt will only be provided on request. You should not send cash.

Postal payments should be sent to:

Director of Finance
Wandsworth Council
PO Box 18
London SW18 2PB

Weekly deductions

If you are still entitled to benefit we will recover your overpayment from your weekly entitlement by deducting an amount per week from your benefit. The basic amount we will deduct is £11.25 for 2020/21. You will need to increase the amount you pay your landlord by this amount.

Your security

• Your transaction will be within a secure payment system. We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, a standard supported by most major internet browsers
• All of your personal and card details are protected using 128 bit encryption when transmitted over the internet. Your card details are stored on a server behind a secure firewall. Only authorised personnel may access this information

Excess award of Council Tax reduction

If you have been awarded too much Council Tax reduction we will send you a new Council Tax bill which will include the excess amount.

We will also advise you of your new instalments.