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Overpayments
Identifying overpayments
1. Jobcentre Plus does not have the same legal authority to recover Flexible
Support Fund overpayments as it does for overpayment of benefits (for
example Jobseekers Allowance)
2. If advisers are to meet their financial responsibilities then overpayment
action must be taken.
3. The following guidance gives information on the action to take depending
on the reason for the overpayment:
 Claimant Actions
 Suppliers Actions
 Official Actions
Claimant Actions
4. Overpayments can occur when claimants:
 do not supply receipts,
 supply receipts for a lower amount
 supply receipts for goods, services or assistance not authorised
 receive duplicate payments following non-receipt of payment action.
5. Where an overpayment has been identified, i.e. you have issued a letter
requesting receipts or for IWEP payments you have issued the Proof of
Purchase reminder letter through LMS, then overpayment letter FSFL10
should be issued.
6. If the claimant agrees to refund the overpayment pass to the Finance
Officer, who will retain the paperwork while the claimant refunds Jobcentre
Plus. For IWEP awards update the IWI window in LMS when the recovery
action has been completed.
7. If the claimant does not reply, or refuses to repay the overpayment,
overpayment reminder letter FSFL12 should then be issued.
8. If the claimant does not reply to the overpayment reminder letter, or
refuses to repay the overpayment, the case should then be referred to the
Business Manager to take write off action.
Outstanding IPF1JP
9. If the claimant has not returned an unused IPF1JP as requested, this
should be treated a ‘technical’ overpayment as the form could be altered and
used at a future date. Follow the overpayment action as outlined above but
use overpayment letter FSFL11.
Suppliers Action
10. No overpayment action is taken against suppliers. See the Supplier
discrepancies (RTF) and Supplier discrepancies (LSA) sections of the
‘Barriers to Work’ chapter for action to take.
Official Actions
11. These will usually be found when Management Checks are conducted.
Inappropriate payments made to claimants must be recorded as ‘Official Error’
overpayments, written off and attributed to the staff member who authorised
the award.
Fraud
12. In case of suspected fraud, access the Fraud Referral Form (FRF) icon on
your desktop and follow the on-screen completion instructions. See the
FRAIMS Guidance for full details of the FRF.
Writing off Overpayments
13. An overpayment can only be written off with the Business Manager’s (BM)
approval, who must not have been involved in the authorisation or issue of the
award.
14. Once the BM has decided to write off the loss, follow the procedures in the
‘Employment Group Guidance for the Completion of Losses Returns for
Overpayments of Training Allowances, Grants and Subsidies’ to write it off.
Unfortunately, this guidance is currently unavailable so we cannot provide a
link; if you have any queries relating to this specific guidance please direct
them here.
15. If a response has not been received two months after the Losses Return
has been made it can be assumed that there are no objections to writing the
loss off.
LMS Action for Overpayments
16. Overpayments are recorded on the ADF Hotspot or the IWI window, as
appropriate, in LMS. Follow the information in the LMS Action chapter.

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