Hi,
I have a housing benefit overpayment letter come through just before Christmas. Crap timing but it was our fault. We forgot to inform council of small wage increase. This overpayment has carried throughout the whole of last year, resulting in £500 we shouldn't have had. A hell of a lot of money for us. I'm not looking for sympathy, that's just the story up till now.
My partner (I don't work) received a Christmas bonus of (after all taxes) £320. We only just figured that this will no doubt be classed as income and treated the same as normal pay. He is paid weekly.
I read another thread of someone paid annually and so her HB for the whole of December would likely be reduced to £0. We are paid weekly.
My question is (if anyone knows), would we have to repay the HB for the whole of December? Or just that weeks wages? The wage slip actually covers 2 weeks (factory job, closes over Christmas) so it's the bonus plus 2 weeks holiday / bank holiday on 1 wage slip.
We receive £57 per week HB at the moment (not including the overpayment deduction) so an extra £228 overpayment wouldn't be most helpful, along with the original £500.
Thank you. Sorry for the long-windedness.