Leeds City Council apologises after paying 25,000 households £150 tax rebate twice

A council has apologised after an error meant that 25,000 households were accidentally paid their £150 tax rebate twice.

Leeds City Council warned residents it would be recovering the duplicate payments – amounting to £3.75m in total – after a processing mistake.

Households in council tax bands A to D are eligible for the government payment, which was announced to help families with the rising cost of living.

In a statement the council said: "We are aware that a significant number (25,000) of council tax rebate payments have been duplicated, meaning some residents have received the payment twice.

"This is due to a process error where the same payment file was incorrectly processed twice after it was initially rejected by the bank.

"We are working with our bank to recover the duplicate payments so that the situation can be rectified as soon as possible.

"We would advise residents to check relevant accounts and bear in mind that duplicate payments will be recovered."

The council apologised for the "inconvenience" and added: "Our officers have worked hard to ensure residents receive the £150 rebate as quickly as possible, and 120,000 payments have been made correctly."