•If you are paid more benefit than you are entitled to, this is called an overpayment.

•If you are overpaid benefit under the universal credit system, you can always be required to repay it, regardless of how it was caused.

•In other situations, except for housing benefit (HB), the general rule is that you must repay the overpayment if it arose because you did not disclose something or you misrepresented something, regardless of whether this was your fault.

•All overpayments of HB must be repaid, except those caused by ‘official error’ which you also could not have reasonably known were overpayments.

•The DWP, HMRC and local authorities have the discretion not to recover an overpayment in certain situations.