Thread: council ignoring Appeal tribunal ruling! HB + CTB

Hi all, been a guest for about 6 months, this is my first post.

In a nutshell, my situation is as follows:

1. Applied for HB/CTB january 2007
2. Application turned down April 2007.reason: spouse has no NI(subject to immigration control)
3. I appealed the decision and it was sent to the benefits tribunal.
4. tribunal gave ruling in our favour in Feb 2008, and ordered that benefits be backdated to Jan 2007.
5. When nothing was heard from the council, we called in (april 2008) to ask what was up, council said that they intend to appeal the tribunal decision.

However for 3 months they have not done anything. They have not formally notified the tribunal of their appeal, as far as we know.

According to the tribunal, appeals must be lodged within 28 days of receiving a ruling. The council has not done this, and yet they will not comply with the ruling.

We really are at our wits end. Last year the council passed us on to bailiffs when we could not pay CT , things are going the same way this year as we are already behind. (we're still paying the bailiffs for last year's CT!).They refuse to put a 'stop order' on our account because as far as they are concerned, their internal appeals team has turned down our appeal.

Our LL is a housing association with a strict policy on late payments so basically I'm paying about £500 a month for rent, which is about 40% of my monthly pay. just so we don't get evicted.(i've been homeless before, and there is nothing more soul draining than that,I can tell you).

I don't know how we are expected to cope, There's the wife and 5 kids to sort out, and wifey can't work yet due immigration rules. Basically, i've been getting by on cards, but I can't do that indefinitely.

Does anyone know the best way to get the council to pay up? I dont have a Lawyer, I went to the tribunal on my own, cause I dont have the money for a lawyer, and its really difficult to get an appointment with CAB cause of their workload.

Would really appreciate any advice

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Thanks for the link (and the welcome too!) Tiglet,

I'll get the complaints procedure started immy, and let you know how I get on.

Has anyone been in the same boat with this council? BTW it's Leicester City Council.

Cheers