How far back can an overpayment go?

Hi everyone, I have a case involving undeclared capital - HB Anorak has already been really helpful in relation to diminishing capital .  But my next question is, how far back can the Local Authority go in reclaiming this?  So far they have just run from 2012 to 2017 (this is based on DWP figures provided for an IS overpayment) but in principle the money was there in her partner’s account from 2008, although the amount would probably have to be based on guesswork as there are no bank statements any further back.  Would it be likely that the LA would attempt this, given that there are no accounts available?

I ususally find that they go back as far as they can provide evidence of payment. A lot of LA systems and certainly ESA only retain a fragment of the award details, going back a few years; so they can’t evidence payment of benefit prior to that.

all incoem and capital is disregarded for income support and otrher passporting benefits - so its likely the LA have received info that IS ended in 2012 due to excess capital and have then asked for the info about the capital

if its been provided they will have re-assessed , or if not they will havemade an adverse inference.
i think its unlikely they’d look to create an overs for any periods when a passporting benefit was in payment -

Thanks both.  Unfortunately, neither of these seems to apply: it looks as if the Local Authority do have records of payment - I will need to check, but they certainly have records of claims from 2005 onwards and payment would show up in rent statements if nowhere else.  Also, once joined by her partner in 2008, her Income Support ended and they were on part-time earnings and tax credits.  It restarted in 2012.  So in principle there could be an overpayment back to 2008 but so far the LA has not made a decision that there is.