Council visit for benefit claim review ?

[summer30]

Had a letter this morning the council are visiting us on such a date to check our council tax and housing benefit claim and want to see all statements, proof of identity, income etc

 

We only made the claim back in July so I am quite worried as to why we are being checked up on. Is this a normal thing or new thing does anyone know?

 

We are self employed, on working tax credits and get 1/3 of our rent paid by the council and 2 3/rds of our council tax. We havent done anything we shouldnt but its just put me on edge as on previous occasions when we have been unemployed we havent had check ups like this. Can anyone shed any light? thanks

[Nystagmite]

I've seen this before posted on here. It sounds more like a check to see that you're getting what you're entitled to.

[summer30]

thanks yes i just had a google around as well and one council worked said they do a check like a lucky dip, feel a bit easier now thanks.

[Madge67]

Dont worry, they have probably set a short review period to take into account any changes in self emploed income etc . If you have told them everything when you first claimed then you will be fine. You may find they will revisit your claim every 6 months to make sure all income is up to date and correct just due to the nature of your claim type thats all.

 

These are called interventions, and Councils should be doing them to make sure claims arent just left in payment for years and years based on information that is out of date. Sometimes this will be a postal intervention where you just fill in a form and send it back or sometimes they do a visit. This could depend on their resources (i,e do they have available visiting officers etc) - I wouldnt worry too much about the visit if you have been up front in the first place.

[Madge67]

Yes you are exactly right when you say it can be like a lucky dip. Interventions can be run as a bulk programme to pick up so many cases every month or so they they review. They can also be selected individually depending on the case when it is being assessed in the first place. It really just depends on the council really and how they review their claims.

[jadeybags]

I had one of these compliance visits last year when I was claiming housing & council tax benefit whilst working part time. It's a good thing trust me. They left me alone for over 2 years after I started working & had no idea my claim had been worked out wrong, I got a months run on of full housing benefits when I started work & the fact some bright spark at my local authority changed my works income to less than I actually earnt even though they had my works contract, 2 yrs went by with me getting full benefit when I shouldn't have been.

So I wish they had been on the ball with me.

They'll just want to see wage slips, any benefit/tax credit entitlement forms & bank statements.

I asked the lady at the time how often they are supposed to do reviews & apparently it varies, they don't actually have to do reviews, but ideally they like to do them yearly she said, but they had got behind. Unfortunately for me.

[summer30]

thanks everyone, we are actually not doing very well on the benefit they awarded us so maybe they will be able to help out with that. Its been very difficult this past year so I just get wound up by anything money related. thanks again .

[jadeybags]

Sometimes these reviews can have you ending up being able to claim more, so good luck.