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On the 23rd January 2007 my benefits got suspended as my hours at work had changed. So on the 29th January 2007 I took my most recent wage slips in so they could process the new information. I got a receipt for this proving I did take in the info.
On the 9th February 2007 I had a letter thanking me for sending in the extra information and that they would be processing it shortly.
On the 17th Of February 2007 I got a phone call telling me they have not got my copies of the Wage slips and I will need to resubmit this. So I went in Monday but got told they was to busy to see me. Yesterday I was working and today to. I am planning to go back tomorrow and demand to see someone. But when I rang up i got told I got to wait another 28 days before I will get any payment.
What can I do here as we are going short now on money and we had had to put the council tax on hold due to this.
The posters on this forum give freely of their time and expertise to help others. They are not permanently on-line to respond to queries and may only visit every couple of days or so.
You post a question that few will have detailed knowledge of (ie Council Tax and benefits) and expect somebody to respond in less than 12 hours.
I suggest that you wind your neck in a little and wait for the right people to view your thread and respond. (If indeed they bother after your last remarks)
The posters on this forum give freely of their time and expertise to help others. They are not permanently on-line to respond to queries and may only visit every couple of days or so.
You post a question that few will have detailed knowledge of (ie Council Tax and benefits) and expect somebody to respond in less than 12 hours.
I suggest that you wind your neck in a little and wait for the right people to view your thread and respond. (If indeed they bother after your last remarks)
come on people, we're all here for help, advice and to try and help each other, so lets all have a bit of patience.
markb03, we can understand that you have a problem but as patdavies posted, for you to get help that is both factual and legitimate you have to hang on in there buddy, cus we all know little bits about different things through encounters we have had ourselves, and for you to go to your local council, you need advice that is going to get you what you want.
a letter of complaint to your local council benefits dept outlining what you have mentioned on here should at least get the ball rolling, and will keep your name on top of a pile on someones desk.
at the same time try your local C A B because sometimes they can reach parts of the council that normal punters cant, and again at the same time keep an eye on your post on here, because you never know when that little bit of knowledge that you've been looking for will appear.
best of luck !
A similar situation occurred with my claim last year, with the council taking 8 months to correctly sort a claim out following alleged lost payslips,their own officers not being able to work figures out correctly and not following the guidance manual
As bazak1 has suggested the first step is to follow the council's formal complaints procedure. This usually means that you need to put your complaint in writing to the manager of the benefits section. They then have a period of fourteen days in which to investigate and respond to the compliant. Enclose copies of all correspondence received from the council proving receipt of the alleged missing payslip.
Should the council not respond or the response be not satisfactory, the next step is to write to the council's Chief Executive. Again they will have fourteen days to in which to respond. If this step fails then you will have recourse to go to the Local Government Ombudsman but only after you have exhausted the council's complaints procedure.
Should your complaint reach the stage were you take it to the ombudsman it can take at least 4 weeks for them to start their investigations, depending on how busy your local ombudsman's office is, and in my case it took a further 16 weeks before the final conclusion was made.
I gained nothing financially from the ombudsman, but my local council were ordered to review and change their procedures to prevent the errors from occurring again in the future, one of which was poor documenting of evidence received.
It is very frustrating when council benefit departments make simple, stupid mistakes and then allow these to escalate.
If they are 28 days behind with claims then they will have to backdate but i am not sure why they wno't take the info off you again. There must have been an error where your info wasn't captured but since you have proof that yoou gave the info when requested then your claim shouldn't have a break in it. Is there any way you can get the info to them again? Do they have an appointments system at all?
If you have an outstanding CT bill then you need to ring the billing dept and ask them to put your account on hold pending a CTB decision, they can verify this by liasing with their HB/CTB dept. As for the rent you will have to keep in touch with your landlord and tell him/her he/she can contact the HB dept to confirm that you have a claim in progress, however they are not legally obliged to wait for you. If it is a council/HA property just inform your estate or housing officer.
Housing and council Tax benefits
telling me they have not got my copies of the Wage slips and I will need to resubmit this. So I went in Monday but got told they was to busy to see me. Yesterday I was working and today to. I am planning to go back tomorrow and demand to see someone. But when I rang up i got told I got to wait another 28 days before I will get any payment.
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Originally Posted by patdavies
