Paying back tax credit overpayment

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We have been overpaid and now need to pay it back. They want to take back a lot more money per month than we can afford, will they accept less money per month over a longer period of time?
its still a current claim so I worry they won't and then we are truly stuffed

I still owe £5000 to them because of an error they made (but refused to admit) over 10 years ago. I notified them that my child had special needs and they misheard and put me down as special needs. When i rang to correct it they said they would sort it out but somehow they still paid me too much. In the end I owed them £12500 pounds because they kept paying me too much but in small unnoticeable amounts. This was not helped by my fluctuating income and also to be honest I was so busy with my autistic son that I could not keep track. They did however say that as long as I was registered that the money could be used to pay off the debt. So for many years the £500 tax credit went to pay it back. When our income went above the threshold they sent me a letter demanding over £8000. I rang them and agreed to pay off £20 a week. For many years I had put all the tax credit into a separate account as I no longer trusted them to get the figure correct. I use that money to pay off the debt. The MAIN thing is they are not allowed to put you in debt whilst you pay off what you owe. About a year ago they rang me to try to get me to increase the payback. I said I could not afford it and they said i would have to fill in a very complicated form with income and outgoings etc for the whole household to justify not paying more. I said I would ring them back. I was furious and even contemplated reducing the amount that I pay back to them. I have however just left it and heard nothing since. It has been extremely stressful knowing that I owe so much and it has been going on for so long. It is a faulty system developed by an idiot! It should be completely overhauled and all debts written off. If i were you I would work out how much you can afford to pay off and even if its just £2 a week ring them and tell them that is what you will pay. Do you actually receive any money from them? If you do then I suggest you put it into a different account and then you can monitor how they are cocking it all up! My best advice is try not to worry as ultimately there are thousand s of us in this situation and as long as you are paying something no matter how little then they should not act. Otherwise if you can be bothered to show that you cannot afford to pay back then go that route.....good luck and if you want to know more please don't hesitate to pm me cheers

Thanks for replying. So did they let you pay back a lower amount per month than they originally wanted.
I'm just worried they wont let us pay back what we can actually afford. I do not have time to fill in lengthy forms!
They want us to pay back more a month than they originally gave us!

Good idea putting the money in a separate acc

I think they may reclaim some of it off your current payments but I think they are only allowed to take back a certain amount each month ( something like 20% I think). This was a few years ago though, so it may have changed.

I was overpaid with XH and they just take an amount off my money automatically now. So I get less weekly than I should until the debt has been paid off.

I have an overpayment of £5000.
The started taking £70 per week automatically from my award.

I literally cannot afford this. I'm scrimping every week.
I tried ringing them before but I was passed around the various departments before my credit ran out.

Any experience of appealing the amount they take per week? I'm desperate.

Nope they are fuckers ,I appealed twice and apparently losing £50 a week wasn't going to put us into hardship .

It did but they don't care . Worst thing about it was it was from a claim 8 yrs ago that they had suddenly reviewed , it's happening to a lot of people.

We've been overpaid by £3500 (definitely their fault, not mine)

I rang to say that their cut of £70 a week would put me into hardship (it does). That was 9 weeks ago.

Just had the new award. It has still be cut to pay back that overpayment.

They don't care. That £70 was our food money.

I don't trust them at all. I don't trust that their 'awards' are ever correct. I can't see how we're ever going to pay it back to be honest.

My overpayment was from when dp and I split up.

We got back together before the tax year ended. They took back everything I had claimed

Even though dp had been made redundant. It's pretty complicated and hard to write down the reason why they said I had to pay it back.

I always gave them the correct information and figures.
I don't even think I owe them the money!

I am paying back £83 a WEEK straight off my award so nothing I can do

Have been writing to them since March saying it is putting us in financial hardship but they don't care they won't reduce it, its 25% of my award.

I am in rent arrears due to this luckily landlord is understanding that it is not our fault,i will keep appealing until there is nothing else i can do.
They say we have £20 a month after all outgoings which is crap it's minus £270 a month and that is not even paying all debts or any money for Christmas or Birthdays and the children miss out of activities at school, we have no idea where they got their figure from as I sent in all proof of debts and bills etc.

They are bastards and you cannot talk to the decision makers