§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 31 January 2000,Official Report, column 471W, on benefit overpayments, if he will estimate, in relation to the overpayments which took place on 17 and 18 January, (a) the total value of the benefit overpayments considered too small to recover, (b) the total value of the benefits recovered so far and (c) the total number of customers who have repaid the overpayment in full. [116134]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 27 March 2000]: Administration of benefits and recovery of overpayments is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, Peter Mathison. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 3 April 2000:
The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent question asking what estimate he has made, in relation to the ACT overpayments (which occurred on 17 and 18 January), of (a) the total value of the benefit overpayments considered too small to be recovered, (b) the total value of the benefit recovered so far and (c) the total number of customers who have repaid the overpayment in full.Repayment was not requested where the overpaid amount was less than £5. Overpayments falling into this category totalled £8,500.The benefit recovered to date is over £6.8m and approximately 68,000 customers have repaid their overpayments in full. In addition, it has been agreed with some customers that they can repay in instalments.I hope this is helpful.