Clause 43
Welfare Reform Bill
6:00 pm
Jim Murphy (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
We are making deserved and popular progress, so I shall not seek to delay the Committee. Clause 43 is headed, “Recovery of overpaid benefit: Great Britain”. It might help the Committee if I confirm that the clause seeks to codify what already occurs in practice. No one will be affected in a material sense by the power we are taking in the clause. The issues that the hon. Gentleman reasonably raises as concerns are already dealt with in practice. The clause ensures that there is no ambiguity in the legislation about the processes for determining and recovering overpayments of benefit when they are paid through the banking system. Social security commissioners have said that this aspect of our legislation is unclear, and we are taking this Bill as an opportunity to put the matter beyond doubt.
An overpayment of this kind can arise, for example, when a benefit payment is issued through the banking system and a change in circumstances that reduces entitlement is properly reported by the customer after the time that we are able to recall the next payment, but before the payment enters the person’s account.
The clause does not remove the need for an award to be revised before an overpayment can be determined, as that is retained within new section 71(5A). However, it will enable us to review an award and then consider the recoverability question at a later date, allowing for a more considered approach to determining whether the overpayment is recoverable. The change follows a similar one in 1996, and simply ensures that benefit overpayments can continue to be dealt with as was always intended. Given the reassurances that the clause simply codifies current practice and removes any dubiety or lack of clarity identified by the social security commissioners, and notwithstanding the hon. Gentleman’s concerns about what already happens, I urge that the clause stand part of the Bill.