DMBM557020 - Debt and return pursuit: Child Benefit Overpayments: introduction to CBO: general

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The guidance in this section of the manual contains advice about the Child Benefit Office (CBO) decision-making process and DMB recovery process for overpayments of Child Benefit (ChB) and Guardian’s Allowance (GA) which is not found elsewhere in this manual.

Reference to ChB within the text also refers to GA.

There are cross-references to other parts of the manual where appropriate.

The term ‘overpayment’ relates to any amount paid in excess of an authorised award.

All CBO staff involved with benefit processing need to be aware of the potential for benefit overpayment and its variety of causes; for example, either:

• incorrectly supplied or undisclosed information
• data entry or software error
• a deliberate alteration to an instrument of payment.

Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs

All work to determine if an overpayment is recoverable, and any subsequent recovery and enforcement, is undertaken by CBO staff on behalf of the ‘Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs’.