If you get a decision in writing from us about Housing or
Council Tax Benefit, you can ask us to look at it again. If we do
not change our decision you may be able to appeal to an independent
tribunal. The letter telling you about the decision will tell you
if you can appeal.
If you receive a decision in writing it is usually because you
have:
- claimed Housing or Council Tax Benefit;
- had a change of circumstances which affects your benefit;
- been told you have to pay back benefit.
You may be able to ask us to look again at a decision or appeal
against it. There are special rules if you are not claiming the
benefit yourself. For example, if you are a landlord and a decision
is made about whether Housing Benefit is to be paid directly to you
or if you are a landlord and a decision is made to recover an
overpayment of Housing Benefit from you.
If you are an appointee for another person you can ask us to
look again at a decision about their benefit and you may be able to
appeal for them. The letter telling you about the decision will
tell you if you can appeal. An appointee is someone appointed by us
to act for a person who cannot act for themselves.
Do you want more information about the decision?
If you have received a letter telling you about your Housing or
Council Tax Benefit decision, and want more information about that
decision, contact us straight away.
You must do this straight away because if you want us to look at
the decision again or if you want to appeal against it, you must do
so within one calendar month of the date on the decision letter,
not the date you contact the office.
You can phone, write or visit us.
When you contact us
You can ask us to explain the reasons for the decision or, if
you want more information to help you decide what to do, you can
ask us for a written statement of the reasons for the decision (if
we have not already sent you one). You must do this within
one month of the date of the decision letter. We
will send the statement of reasons to you as soon as possible.
If you still disagree with the decision, you can:
- ask us to look at it again;
- appeal against the decision.
If you asked for a written statement of reasons the one month
you have to ask us to look at the decision again or to appeal
against it will be extended by the time we took to send the
statement of reasons.
Do you want us to look at the
decision again?
If you have received:
- a letter from us telling you the decision;
- or a written statement of reasons explaining the decision;
- or we have explained our decision;
and you still think it is wrong, you can ask us to look at the
decision again.
Let the office that sent you the decision letter know, in
writing, within one calendar month of the date of
the letter. If you ask for an explanation first the one month is
still counted from the date of the decision letter. If you ask for
a written statement of reasons you will have one calendar month
from the date of the decision letter plus the time we took to send
you the statement of reasons.
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 contact us.
If you ask us to look at a decision again more than one month
after the date of the decision letter and you do not have special
circumstances, we may still be able to change the decision. But
this will usually only be from the date you wrote to us.
What happens next?
When you ask us to look at a decision again, we will check that
the decision is correct.
A different member of staff will usually do this.
If the decision is wrong we will change it.
If the decision can be changed
If you asked us to look at our decision again, within one month,
or had special circumstances which meant you could not, we will
change the decision from the date of the original decision.
If you do not agree with the new decision, you can ask us to
look at it again.
If you asked us to look at our decision again after one month
and did not have special circumstances, the decision will usually
be changed from the date you asked us on.
We will send you a letter telling you what the new decision
is.
If the decision cannot be changed
If the decision cannot be changed, we will send you a letter
telling you that we cannot change it. The letter will confirm the
original decision.
The letter will tell you if you can appeal against the original
decision.
If you can appeal, the one calendar month time limit starts
again from the date of the letter confirming the decision.
Do you want to appeal against the decision?
You have received a letter from us telling you the decision or a
written statement of reasons explaining the decision.
Or we have explained our decision and you still think it is
wrong
The letter telling you about the decision tells you if you have
the right to appeal against it.
Do you:
- Have the right to appeal against the decision?
- Believe the decision is wrong.
- Want to appeal to an independent tribunal.
If yes, to all,
contact the Benefits Team for a
leaflet.
The Appeals Service will decide your appeal at a tribunal
hearing. The tribunal is made up of people who are not from the
local authority.
You can get help from an advice centre or a solicitor.
Write down the reasons for your appeal. This is important
because the tribunal does not have to look at anything you do not
mention. Make sure that you sign the form.
Send the form back to the office shown on your decision letter
within one month of the date on the decision
letter.
If you cannot appeal against the decision
you
can still ask us to look at it again.
Remember, if the appeal tribunal finds you have been getting too
much money your benefit will be reduced.
What does the tribunal look at?
The tribunal can only look at the evidence, the law and the
circumstances at the time we made the decision you are appealing
against. Follow this link for
more information about appeal tribunals
The tribunal cannot look at changes of circumstances that
happened after we made the decision.
If a change of circumstances could affect your benefit or mean
you could claim again, you should report it straight away. Do not
wait for the appeal hearing. Contact us using the details shown on
your decision letter.
Late appeals
The Appeals Service may not be able to accept your appeal if it
is received more than one month after the date on the decision
letter.
They can only accept a late appeal if there are special
circumstances that caused the delay. These could be a death, a
serious illness, absence abroad, a postal strike or some other
special circumstance.
You should include an explanation of why you could not appeal
within one month on the form.
A legally qualified tribunal member will look at the reasons you
have given for not appealing in time and will decide if your appeal
can be accepted. They will look at:
- whether there were special circumstances for the delay;
- the length of time since you received the decision;
- whether it is in the interests of justice that your appeal is
accepted, and
- whether your appeal is reasonably likely to succeed.
The Appeals Service cannot accept a late appeal if the only
reason is that you misunderstood the law, or interpretation of the
law has changed since the decision was made.
Your appeal cannot be accepted if you appeal 13 months or more
after the date on the decision letter.
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