Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit - Appeals

Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit

The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decision and Appeals) Regulations 2001 state that any 'person affected' by a relevant decision can ask the Council to revise its decision. It also states that a person affected can appeal against the Council's decision to an independent appeal tribunal.

A relevant decision is any matter concerning a claim for benefit, for example: the amount of benefit payable, the rent eligible for benefit, the calculation of a claimants income or the calculation and recovery of an overpayment. Some decisions, mainly administrative decisions, do not carry a right of appeal. You will be notified if the matter you are disputing does not carry the right of appeal.

A request for a revision means that the Council will look again at its decision regarding a claim for benefit and will make sure that it has been done correctly.

An appeal means that a Tribunal, independent of the Council and the Department For Work and Pensions, will consider the Council's decision.

Who is a Person Affected?

A person affected is :-

• A claimant
• Someone acting on behalf of the claimant who is appointed by the Courts
• Someone who the Council agrees is appointed to act on behalf of the claimant
• A landlord - but only in matters relating to whom payment of Benefit is to be made
• An agent - but only in matters relating to whom payment of Benefit is to be made
• Any person from whom, it is determined, an overpayment is to be recovered

This means that only the claimant can ask the Council to revise a decision concerning the calculation of a claimant's entitlement; and that the landlord or agent can only ask the Council to revise a decision about whether payment should be made to a landlord and whether the decision to recover an overpayment from a landlord or agent has been correctly made

What should someone do if they are not happy with the Council's decision?

If you are unhappy with a decision made on your claim to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, you have three options available to you:

OPTION 1 - You can write to us, asking us to explain our decision or to provide a written statement of reasons for it.

You can do this at any time, but we recommend that you do this straight away because if you decide you want us to look at the decision again (or if you want to appeal against it), you must do so within one month of the date on the decision letter.

If you still disagree with our decision after we have explained it, you can ask us to look at it again (see OPTION 2) or you can appeal against the decision (see OPTION 3).

If you ask for a written statement of reasons, the one-month you have to either ask us to look at our decision again or to appeal against it, will be extended by the time we took to send the statement of reasons.

OPTION 2 - You can ask us to look at our decision again

If you want us to look at our decision again, you must write to us asking us to do this within one month of the date of the decision letter. We will check that our decision is correct and if it is wrong we will change it.

If there are special circumstances that mean you cannot contact us within one month, we may still be able to change the decision. Tell us what the special circumstances are when you write to us.

If more than one month after the date of our decision letter, you ask us to look at the decision again but you do not have special circumstances, we may still be able to change the decision, but this will usually be from the Monday after you wrote to us.

If you are unhappy with this decision you can ask us to look at it again.

If our decision cannot be changed, we will send you a letter telling you that we cannot change it and confirming the decision that was made. The letter will also tell you if you can appeal against the decision.

OPTION 3 - You can appeal against the decision

If you are still unhappy with our decision after we have explained it, you can make an appeal to an independent tribunal called The Appeals Service. To do this, you must write a letter to us, stating that you want to appeal against the decision we made on your claim and giving full reasons for your request.

You must send your letter to the Benefits Service within one month of the date of the decision letter. Late appeals can only be accepted if there are special circumstances that caused the delay. For example, reasons could include a death in the family, a serious illness, absence abroad, a postal strike or some other special circumstance.

If your appeal is made after the one-month time limit, you must explain why in your letter. An Appeals Service tribunal member will decide whether your late appeal can be accepted. No appeal can be accepted if you appeal 13 months or more after the date on the decision letter.

After you have submitted your appeal letter, we will provide you with an explanation of our decision and look at the decision again. If the original decision is wrong and the new one would be to your advantage, we will send you a new decision and your appeal will stop. If you do not agree with the new decision you may appeal against it.

If the new decision is not to your advantage we will send you a new one and your appeal will continue against the new decision. You will have another month to comment on the new decision.

If we do not change our decision, we will send your appeal to The Appeals Service. We will also send you a copy of the appeal papers and a form (called a TAS1). You must complete the TAS1 and send it to The Appeals Service within 14 days. If the TAS1 is not sent to The Appeals Service within 14 days from the date the form was sent to you, your appeal will stop. The TAS1 asks questions about how you want your appeal to be looked at (either by way of an oral hearing - where you can be present for the hearing and the tribunal may ask you questions, or a paper hearing - where you do not have to be present and the hearing will be carried out with papers that have been submitted as part of your appeal).

The tribunal will give you a decision notice explaining their decision, as soon as possible after the hearing. They will also send a copy of their decision to us. If your appeal is successful, we will usually put the decision right as soon as we receive our copy of the tribunal's decision.

If you do not agree with the appeal tribunal's decision you may be able to appeal to the Social Security Commissioners. Your decision letter from The Appeals Service will tell you what to do if you are unhappy with their decision.

A person affected can query the Council's decision and request further information about the decision. The Council will give the person an explanation, sometimes over the phone. If they are still not happy they can appeal or request a revision of the Council's decision

Further Information

If you have any further questions regarding appeals you can contact us using the details below.

Important Notes

The amount of Benefit payable is a matter between the Council and the claimant. Only the tenant can ask the Council to review the amount of Benefit payable. If the Council reduces a tenant's benefit to recover an overpayment in respect of a previous address, the current landlord cannot appeal against the decision to recover that overpayment.