Housing Benefit help please!

[YellowStrip]

I receive housing benefit, in Novembers pay I got a backdated pay rise (from April '22). Yesterday I received this months pay slip with my new monthly pay on. I sent both pay slips to HB who have now recalculated my award.

(I will use rough figures but they are close to actual). The letter states that my entitlement for November was £3 a week, so I have an overpayment of £500. Presumably this is for the payment I received at the end of last month. All fine and expected. Except they have also said that this months payment (for December) will be £15.

My pay has gone up by just under £200 a month, although take home less than that after tax, NI and pension contribution. I naively believed that the HB would only go down by maximum the same amount not basically have the whole award taken away. Is this correct? Every online calculator I've looked at shows me receiving a larger amount so I'm really confused and the letters make absolutely no sense.

Does anyone know if it's possible for them to take an overpayment in one go or does this sound like a mistake on their end? Really worried now. I can pay next December's rent with the backpay so that's fine but if the next HB payment is really £15 then Januarys rent is going to be almost impossible to pay.

Yes, unfortunately this is the way they roll.

have you done a UC calculator? None of this nonsense with them but my council tax seems to fluctuate with every pay-day - but it’s small fry compared to rent.

I think the way councils assess this kind of thing can vary. You need to know over what period they are assessing this higher pay. I would call them and ask about it, but make your case that it is not an ongoing fluctuation, just a one off.

But yes I would also do a UC estimate on entitled 2 website to see if you would be better off in general

Does your award letter have a breakdown of the calculation on it?
If not contact them and ask for it or ask for a mandatory reconsideration, it may be an error
Usually you would repay a small amount a week to recover the overpayment

It’s likely they have taken the average of both your wage slips and used that. You need to contact them and explain that November was higher as a one off due to back pay and that December is your actual normal pay they may well ask you for your January wage slip as well when you get it so they can average the 2.

Also have your tax credits also changed? Your notification letter (the letter that shows how much you get) will show what figures have been used in the calculation. It will show earned income what is this figure? To convert weekly figures to monthly you multiply by 52 divide by 12. If you do this you can see what earnings they have used. Remember only deductions allowed are for tax, ni and 50% of a pension.

Yes the letters show they have calculated the overpayment from 28th October-27th November. It then shows an overpayment for 28th-30th November separately. Nothing with December's date on it.. could this be because although I have the pay slip I haven't actually been paid yet?

I expected an overpayment, I've kept the back pay separate to use for this purpose but it's confusing me how they can say I have a £500 overpayment but then also lower my next month's payment by almost the same amount. On my online account it is showing my monthly earnings as the backpay amount which obviously isn't correct.

I'll have to call them when they open. UC scares me to be honest, I read so many negative things about how payments are stopped for ridiculous reasons or things like being paid a few days early for Christmas means no UC award due to 2 payments in assessment period etc. Maybe I should look in to it again though, as obviously HB also has its downfalls!

Brings me back to the time they suspended my claim for 2 months a few years ago because of a change of address reported to them by HMRC. Turns out a comma had been added to my address which triggered a "new address" alert 🤦‍♀️

Tax credits haven't changed, but they go on the previous year don't they? So presumably April will see a drop. I have updated this years estimated earnings on my online account but haven't heard anything from them yet.

Going by your figures you have received a lump sum of 1400 plus your wages have increased by 200.
They will have recalculated your entitlement to Housing Benefit back to the date the change happened (April) and this will have left you with an overpayment of roughly £900. (According to Google the taper is 55%)
They will take this back from your ongoing housing benefit but will not leave you with a zero payment as this would trigger a move to UC (in Scotland not sure about England). They will want to reclaim the overpayment in this financial year but you should be able to contact them and spread this out between December and March. Your entitlement going forward will be reduced by roughly £110. Housing Benefit is calculated in weeks not months so my figures are very rough.

@Roseshavethorns The overpayment is just over £500 on the letter. It doesn't look like they've recalculated each month from April with the new pay, just taken Novembers pay as the monthly pay and reduced the award for that month to £3 a week. It says my next payment (due 1st January) will be £15. It doesn't show anything else going forward. It does say on the overpayment part of the letter that it will be taken from my ongoing entitlement at a rate of £3.05 a week. This is why I am so very confused, it seems like they are taking the overpayment in one go but then also weekly from my ongoing entitlement.