Have a client with an overpayment from April 07 to October 2007

he came to me it is a recoverable overpayment. However there was a change in Nov 07 and this has now been assessed and cl due an underpayment from Nov 07 to Feb 08 and this is being used to offset the earlier overpayment.

i cannot think anymore my brain aches can they do this?

thanks in advance

Basically, yes.

An overpayment can be off-set against any underpayment, even if it for a totally different period. However, an overpayment cannot be off-set against on-going entitlement, except at the prescribed rates.

If it is going to cause your client hardship and lead to difficulties with his tenancy then you can request that the Local Authority don't use the underpayment to reduce the overpayment. This would be at their discretion (and is obviously going to mean the overpayment will take longer to recover), but I imagine most authorities would at least consider such a request (we do...)

"Arrears" of Benefit can be used to recover overpayments and is not subject to the usual weekly limit that applies to ongoing entitlement.

See HB Reg 102(2)

Thanks it's just annoying that the only reason there is an overpayment is due to the LA's delay as he told then of wage decrease and they delayed in assessing this

thanks for the advice lads