PART 12Overpayments

Recovery of overpayments from prescribed benefits

86.—(1) [F1Subject to paragraph (1B),] for the purposes of section 75(4) of the Administration Act (recovery of overpaid housing benefit by deduction from other benefits), the benefits prescribed by this regulation are—

(a)any benefit except guardian's allowance;

(b)income support under Part 7 of the Act;

(c)any benefit payable under the legislation of any member State other than the United Kingdom concerning the branches of social security mentioned in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 F2 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, whether or not the benefit has been acquired by virtue of the provisions of that Regulation;

(d)a jobseeker's allowance;

(e)state pension credit.

[F3(f)an employment and support allowance.]

[F4(1A)  For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) the term “member State” shall be understood to include Switzerland in accordance with and subject to the provisions of Annex II of the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States and the Swiss Confederation on the free movement of persons, signed at Brussels on 21st June 1999. ]

[F5(1B) For the purposes of section 75(4) of the Administration Act, where recovery is sought from the claimant’s partner under regulation 83(1ZA), the benefits prescribed by this regulation are—

(a)income support under Part 7 of the Act;

(b)income-based jobseeker’s allowance;

(c)state pension credit; and

(d)income-related employment and support allowance.]

[F6(2) The Secretary of State shall, if requested to do so by an authority under regulation 83 (method of recovery), recover a recoverable overpayment by deduction from any of the benefits prescribed in paragraph (1) or (in the case of the claimant’s partner) any of the benefits prescribed in paragraph (1B) provided that the Secretary of State is satisfied that—

(a)a recoverable overpayment has been made in consequence of a misrepresentation of or a failure to disclose a material fact (in either case whether fraudulently or otherwise), by a claimant or any other person to whom a payment of housing benefit has been made; and

(b)the person from whom it is sought to recover the overpayment is receiving sufficient amounts of any of the benefits prescribed in paragraph (1) or (1B) (as the case may be) to enable deductions to be made for the recovery of the overpayment.]

(3) In paragraph (1)(a), “benefit” has the meaning it has in section 122(1) of the Act.

Textual Amendments

F2O.J. No. L149, 5.7.1971; Regulations No. 1408/71 and No. 574/72 were restated in amended form in Regulation No. 2001/83 (O.J. No. L230, 22.8.1983), and further amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1661/85 (O.J. No. L160, 20.6.1985) and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 513/86 (O.J. No. L51, 28.2.1986).