Housing & Council Tax Benefit - Appeals

Your rights

We aim to make the right decisions when working out your entitlement to Housing or Council Tax Benefit, we are governed by rules and regulations set by Central Government. You may not always agree with our decisions, in which case you have the right to dispute most of our decisions.

When you claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit or have a change in your circumstances, we work out your benefit, and write to you to let you know our decision about your claim. This is called the decision letter. We will send you a decision letter if:

• You have sent in a new or review claim form for housing benefit or council tax benefit

• You have told us about a change in your circumstances which affects your benefit

• You have been paid too much benefit

There are several things you can do if you disagree with our decision about your benefit claim, you can:

• Ask us to explain our decision to you

• Ask us to send you a written statement of the reasons for our decision

• Ask us to look at your benefit claim again

• Appeal against the decision

Appeals Tribunals are organised by the Tribunal Service, appeals are heard by a legally qualified chairperson and you can attend to put your case if you wish. Hearings are held locally and you will normally receive a written decision at the end of the hearing.

 

Who is entitled to appeal?

Persons claiming Housing or Council Tax Benefit have the legal right to appeal against the decisions we make, such as

• Whether you can get benefit at all

• How much you get

• When it starts and stops

• If we can ask you to pay overpaid benefit back

If you are a landlord

Special rules apply if you are a landlord and a decision is made about whether housing benefit is being paid to you, or you have been asked to repay a housing benefit overpayment. Please contact us for more information.

If you are an Appointee

If you are an appointee for another person you can ask us to look at the claim again, or dispute a decision on behalf of the other person. Please contact us

Procedure

The decision letter you receive once benefit has been calculated explains our decision on your award.

If you cannot understand the letter please contact us and we will go through your claim with you and explain anything you are not sure about. If we have made a mistake with your claim we will correct it.

It is important that you contact us straight away if you would like us to explain our decision because if you want us to look at your claim again, or appeal, you must do so within one month of the date of your decision letter

You can also ask in writing for a 'statement of reasons' for our decision as well as (or instead of) an explanation

A statement of reasons is a letter that tells you in detail how we have reached our decision about your claim. If you would like a written statement please contact us and we will send one to you. The statement may help you to decide what to do next.

It is important that you ask for a written statement straight away because if you want us to look at your claim again or appeal you must do so within one month of the date of your decision letter.

If you do ask for a written statement the one month time limit for appeals is extended by the time we take to send your statement

If you still disagree with our decision once we have explained it or sent you a written statement you can:

• Ask us to look at your claim again, and/or

• Appeal against the decision.

If you would like us to look at your claim again

If we have explained our decision and/or sent you a written statement and you still think our decision is wrong you can ask us to look at your claim again. 

We will look at your claim to check whether our decision is correct. We will then write to you to let you know.

If our decision is wrong we will correct it.

If you still disagree after we have looked at the decision again

You must write down the reasons why you disagree with our decisions in full. This is important because the appeal tribunal does not have to look at anything you do not mention. Please make sure you sign the form, and send it to us within one month of the date on your decision letter.

If our decision is correct we will confirm our original decision and tell you if you can appeal against it. If you can appeal, the time limit to appeal will be stated on the letter confirming the decision.

If you wish to appeal against our decision you can download and complete the 'Appeal Form' on the internet or you can make your appeal in writing.

You can ask an advice agency such as Welfare Rights or Citizens Advice for help with your form or letter. You must write down the reasons why you disagree with our decision in full. This is important because the appeal tribunal does not have to look at anything you do not mention.

Please make sure you sign the form, and send it to us within one month of the date on your decision letter.

Contact us

For details of how to contact the Benefits section and how to view your benefit details online, see Benefit Enquiries 

 

How you can help

It is important that you contact us within one month of the date of your decision letter. You can make a late request, but then you will have to explain why you could not write within the normal time limit. We cannot always accept a late request unless there are special circumstances.

If you have previously asked for a statement of reasons the one-month is extended by the time we took to send the statement to you.

When writing you can help by stating clearly which decision letter you disagree with by giving the date of the letter and your claim reference number. You must state why you think the decision is wrong and include any extra information you think may be relevant to your dispute.

 

How do you dispute a decision?

In writing and it must be signed by you.

 

Leaflets and forms

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. What to do if you think our decision is wrong  Appeals Form

Leaflets are available from

Download from the internet

All  Barnsley Connects Offices

or by phone

Legislation

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001

What happens when you dispute a decision?

After you have sent in your appeal we will offer you an explanation of our decisions if one has not been given.

We will look at our decision again. If our decision is wrong we will change it.

If we think our decision is correct we will tell you why.

If you have asked for your dispute to be heard by the Tribunal Service we will prepare a submission to them if we have not changed our decision.

When your appeal is sent to the Tribunal Service you will be sent a form that you must fill in and return to them within 14 days, otherwise your appeal will stop. The form will ask whether you want a paper or oral hearing for your appeal, and will explain what is involved.

After the tribunal hearing you will be given the tribunals decision. If the tribunal turn down your appeal you will be given information about what you can do next.

 

Other useful organisations

Housing Advice

Telephone 01226 773870

Welfare Rights

Telephone 01226 775656
Welfare Rights

Citizen's Advice Bureau
1 Shambles Street
Barnsley
S70 2HT
Telephone 01226 206492
Citizens Advice Bureau

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I have an overpayment to pay back?

Overpayments of Housing and Council Tax Benefit happen when your income increases or your household circumstances change. They happen most often when the Council is not told immediately about changes that have to be reported, the changes that have to be reported are listed on your benefit award letters.

Sometimes the Council does not manage to deal with the information provided about a change straight away and this creates an overpayment. In most of these cases the overpayment is still repayable because the law says that if you could be aware that the change might affect your benefit, the overpayment is still recoverable.

How can I repay the overpayment?

You can repay the overpayment in full if we send you a bill. If you have problems paying the bill you can ring the Council to arrange a weekly amount that you can afford.

If you are still in receipt of Housing Benefit we will deduct a weekly amount from this to repay the overpayment. You will then have to pay the shortfall to your landlord. If you have problems making these payments we may be able to reduce them.

To arrange repayment please call 01226 774781 or 773736

Why have you sent me a bill for an overpayment of benefit when you paid the benefit to my landlord?

Housing Benefit to help pay rent can sometimes be paid directly to landlords instead of the person claiming the benefit.

If an overpayment occurs the Council look at who the benefit was paid to, and whether that person would have known they were being overpaid.

If you have a change in your personal circumstances, such as starting work or starting to get tax credits, it is not reasonable for a landlord to know about such changes. The overpayment is then considered recoverable from you as the person that claimed benefit and declared that they would inform the Council of those changes.

What can I do if I do not agree with the overpayment?

If you do not agree with an overpayment, or are not sure about it, you can ring us and ask us to explain the decision. You can also either request a written statement of the reasons, or ask us to look at the decision again. You must do this in writing within one month of the date of the overpayment letter.

What can I do if I don't agree with a decision about my benefit?

If you are unsure about any decision you can ring us and get an explanation.

If you are still unhappy you can either ask us for a written statement of the reasons for the decision or ask us to look at the decision again. You must do this in writing within one month of the date we sent you our decision letter. When you write to us you should give us all the reasons you disagree with the decision so it can be reconsidered in full, we cannot reconsider things you don't tell us about.

When we write back to you, if you still disagree you can appeal to the Tribunal Service. The Tribunal Service hear your case at a tribunal hearing. You do not have to attend the hearing, the case is decided on the evidence provided by you and by the Council.

I have been told I cannot appeal, what can I do?

Some decisions cannot be appealed against, for example the government sets the figures that the Council must use to assess benefit entitlement. These figures cannot be appealed against.

 

Related Links:

• Welfare Rights

• Citizens Advice Bureau

• The Department of Works and Pensions

Last modified on 24/7/2008