Pay back overpaid Housing Benefit
If you receive Housing Benefit, we will normally reduce your benefit payments each week to recover the overpayment. You do not need to take any further action.
If you no longer receive Housing Benefit, you can pay online.
Alternatively, you can repay using one of the methods below.
Pay by bank transfer
Make a one off payment or set up a standing order through your bank. Our bank details are as follows:
Account name: Luton Borough Council
Sort code: 30-66-76
Bank account number: 17256862
Please quote the invoice number you want to pay.
Pay by telephone
You can make a payment on our automated telephone payment system, using:
- Visa
- Maestro
- Visa Electron
- Mastercard
- Solo
Telephone: 0300 456 2725 (24 hours)
Listen to all payment options and choose the correct one for you.
There is a charge for credit card payments, but no charge for using a debit card.
Pay in instalments
If you are experiencing financial hardship and cannot afford to pay the overpayment, we will consider reducing the rate of recovery.
Telephone: 01582 546050
You can offer to pay a small amount on a weekly or monthly basis against the outstanding overpayment. We may not necessarily accept your offer and you may be asked to complete an income and expenditure form.
For help with budgeting and debt solutions, go to the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Reduce your overpayment
It may be possible to reduce your benefit overpayment by awarding underlying entitlement. This is the benefit that you would have been entitled to, had your claim been based on the correct details.
For example, if you changed jobs and did not tell us, you could have been overpaid.
At a later date, you provide proof of the end of your old job and pay slips for your new job. These confirm that based on your income, you could have been entitled to some housing benefit.
This underlying entitlement can be used to reduce the overpayment by the amount of benefit you should have been given. This will reduce the amount you need to pay back.
If you believe that your circumstances were different to those that were used when the overpayment was created, provide evidence of your actual circumstances for that period of time.