Can I join you in this rant?
I've just had letters through 1.Was overpaid housing benefit at last house, now have to pay it back 2.Have been overpaid housing benefit /council tax benefit at this house, now benefit is being reduced till I pay it all back 3.Have been overpaid tax credits, payments being reduced till it's paid back!
All they seem to do is overpay you, you get used to that amount of money coming in, then they say they've over paid you, and reduce your benefit to retrieve the overpayment, plus reduce it down to what they say you're entitled to, leaving you unable to manage!
Because we are entitled to (don't remember exact amounts) £5000 tax credits per year, when the housing benefit work out our money they say right they're getting £5000 tax credits, when in actual fact we are only getting about £3000 because our payments are reduced because we were overpaid last year, so our money comes way short each week of what the government says we are supposed to be living off! We are getting our hb reduced by £8.40 per week to pay back the overpayment, we have to pay back £10 per week for the overpayment of hb at last house, it's so s**t!!!!
Think the problem has got worse since family credit changed to tax credits because in the past they decided in advance what they were going to give you and that was what you got, now they pay you then at the end of the tax year they work out what your income actually was for that year and finalise your claim, so because my partner earned more than he expected last year, not only do we have to pay that excess back but our tax credits have been reduced for this year so it's double crap!