Advice about housing benefit rebate

[kate999]

Evening peeps,

I am after some advice for a friend of mine that is having difficulty with her housing benefit.

This is the basic story-

At the time my friend was working part time,living with her partner who was claiming JSA, they had one child and was pregnant with her second. At that time she was receiving a small contribution towards council tax and housing benefit. A few weeks before her second child was born she broke up with her partner and was left on her own. She contacted the housing and council tax benefit dept to advise them of her change in circumstances, and she was expecting her second child in a few weeks. They increase her benefits a little but still had to make a huge contribution towards her rent and council tax. It left her with very little to live on. She then assumed that thatwas what her entitlement, she was not really sure how the benefit system worked. In April there was a review of her benefits and she is now in full receipt, and should of been ever since her second child was born 9 months ago. They owe her nearly 2,000 in unclaimed benefits.

 

They are refusing to back pay her it as the said that she did not let them know when the baby was born. They have said that she can appeal the decision if she wants to, but has been advised she hasn't got a leg to stand on because she has no evidence that she told them that the baby was born, only that she was due a few weeks earlier.

 

Can anyone advise whether or not it is worth her appealing? she has been struggling for months paying when she didn't need to. She has obviously been naive and not known her rights and what she is entitled to. It is a lot of money and she could really do with it. If the shoe was on the other foot they would be taking her to court or the money.

 

Any help in advance would be really appreciated - I really feel for her as she has had a tough ride and could do with a break.

Thanks guys!

[kate999]

Anyone out there got any advice for me????

thank you

[kate999]

Bump

[kate999]

Bump

[kate999]

Anyone got any advice??? Please help!

[kate999]

Bump - please help - she hasn't got long left now to appeal.

[MARTIN3030]

Hello Kate,sorry you have waited so long.

Can you say if they are wrong by saying she did not tell them when the second baby was born ?

How did she notify them also of her change in circumstances ?

It has to be worth appealing of course it does.

It may mean here having to do a full Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act to get copies of things that might show the proof she needs.

If all else fails,there is always the Local Government Ombudsman who does rule on these complaints.

[kate999]

Martin,

Great to hear from you - thank you for responding.

My understanding is this -

When she made the call to the benefits office before baby was born to update on her circumstances, and told them the date her baby was due, she thought that was it.

She wasn't advised to call up after the baby was born. She thought that was it. As she has said, if she knew she had to make the call then she would have.

I will double check on this with her.

To sum it up - doesn't look like there is any record or evidence about notifying them AFTER the baby was born, only before. They have record of her call before baby was born.

The only argument/defence I can see is that she was ignorant to what the procedure was and thought what she was getting was it.

Before we can go down the local government ombudsman route we need to appeal.

I am going to type it up for her, but her argument for appealing is weak.

She is gutted and was just going to leave it. I have said we have to try - 2000 is a lot of money to someone like her.

 

K

 

 

L

Bit of a tricky one really.

[ErikaPNP]

Hi Kate - I'm sorry that you have waited so long for a response.

 

The onus always falls to the claimant to report any change in circumstance and if she did not do so within one month of the change occuring, an appeal would have very little prospect of success. She would need to show good cause for a backdate (the maximum backdate is usually 3 months) but I'm afraid that in benefits (and especially housing benefit) ignorance of entitlement is not usually accepted as good cause, and her award notice will clearly set out that she needs to tell them of any change in her circumstances - there is usually a list of some changes that need to be reported, though they don't list them all.

 

However, in spite of this, I'd still say appeal. It doesn't cost anything to appeal and the worst that can happen is that she'll still be in the same position she's in now. It's not going to make her any worse off. If she's aware that she has little prospect of sucsess, any success she does have will be a bonus.

[kate999]

Ok - thank you so much for getting back to me,

I will try and type something up for her - as you say she has nothing to loose.

Thank you once again.

K

[ErikaPNP]

I'm sorry it couldn't be more positive - but you never know!

[caro]

I'd be inclined to add a bit about the stress of her relationship breaking up, birth of baby, sleep deprivation, struggle etc made it difficult to cope with everything and she just didn't realise she had to tell them about the baby's birth, especially as it hadn't been made clear to her.

[kate999]

Just to let everyone know - it was worth appealing - we played it from all angles and also demanded a full investigation.

She was refunded the full amount.

Great result - thanks for everyone's advice and support.

Kx

[caro]

Excellent news Kate.

[ErikaPNP]

Brilliant result!

[moneydragon]

Hi Kate - Well Done:-)

 

Have just come across your thread as my daughter is in a similar position. They have informed the council of every change that as happened also that recently her partner was made redundant. Yet they have just received a very threathing letter demanding payment of an overpayment. They have also stated that if they decide to appeal if could cost them more!! - bullying antic if I ever heard of one

 

Anyway they have a meeting next week to go through how the counil have calculated their award as they feel that it is incorrect, they also have an appointment with CAB.

 

If all fails I will certainly help them to appeal and stop this council's bullying attitude.

 

Anyway well done you and I hope everything is well with your friend.

 

md