Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 335

Overpayments

Section 335 deals with the recovery of overpayments where a decision on benefit, assistance, child benefit, working family payment, continued payment for qualified children, back to work family dividend or supplementary welfare allowance is subsequently varied or reversed so as to reduce or disallow the payment.

• Where a decision is changed on appeal or revision so that a social insurance benefit is reduced or disallowed, the overpaid amount must be repaid to the Social Insurance Fund by the recipient (or the person who received it on their behalf, or their personal representative) on demand by an officer of the Minister.
• The same repayment obligation applies to means-tested assistance, child benefit, working family payment, continued payment for qualified children and back to work family dividend, except that the overpaid amount is repayable to the Minister rather than to the Social Insurance Fund.
• Supplementary welfare allowance overpaid as a result of a revised decision under section 301(2) must likewise be repaid to the Minister on demand.
• In each case, the amount repayable is the difference between what was actually paid and what would have been payable had the revised decision applied from the outset.