A resident in our supported accommodation is having his HB payments reduced by £8.70 per week due to a previous overpayment. HB is payable to us (landlord) and we have been told we need to collect the £8.70 from him.

It is the opinion of the resident's support worker that he will be unable to pay this extra £8.70/wk on his current income (IS), but may be able to pay, say, £3 per week. I'm sure we've had cases where only £3 has been deducted, but I can only find reference to £8.70 deductions in the regs.

Does the LA have any discretion to deduct a smaller amount in certain circumstances?

Thanks
LD

Yes, the regs just specify the maximum the LA is allowed to deduct.

Paragraphs 4.42 and 4.43 of the DWP HB/CTB Overpayments Guide advises local authorities regarding recovery of HB overpayments by ongoing deductions as follows -

'4.42 Recovery may be direct from the claimant's HB by a single payment of the money owed series of payments, over a number of weeks. The LA should come to some arrangement with the person affected as to how much and how often. The LA should not apply a 'blanket policy' to such recoveries ...

4.43 Have regard to the claimant's financial circumstances and avoid causing hardship to either the claimant or any of their dependants when making such deductions.'

The DWP HB/CTB Overpayments Guide is available here.

A link to this guidance is also available via the toolkit area of rightsnet.

Thanks everyone for your help.
Will send a polite request to LA asking to amend the deduction. I suppose they may require something signed by the resident?

you could also consider applying for a DHP to pay the shortfall caused by the overpayment deduction, if its causing financial hardship to your client

Thanks for the DHP suggestion Johnny - will look into that too.
LD