How long can housing benefits service take / Can they reject if you meet criteria??!

fluffymovie

Hi Beta69

I, like Hippy Chick, work in HB for a smallish local authority. We have a caseload of around 5600 but in the last 2 weeks alone, we have had more new claims come in than in the whole of the month of Feb last year.

There is an issue in that we just don't have the time to get on top of what we have coming in and people, who are naturally concerned, are calling up and chasing their claims which means that the assessors are dealing with those calls rather than assessing the claims themselves! This is not a pop at the claimants either, just the state of play at the moment.

With regard to Interim Payments, the Local Authority are under an obligation to process claims as soon as reasonably possible. A payment on account can be made after 14 days if all the information has been provided but if you think about it, by the time the assessor looks at the claim, if they have what they need, they will assess it!

I am taking calls from a lot of people who are having to deal with very difficult situations and believe it or not, the people in your local authority are most likely trying as hard as they can to deal with the claims but it is just a case of massive workloads at the minute.

fluffymovie

Oh and the systems do always have to be taken down around that weekend for the Council tax benefit to be posted to the accounts for those in receipt of it, for the next financial year.

This is a really big process and we posted over £4million to accounts last weekend. This is a big job so please try to bear with your LA as they will be doing what they can!

ineedhelp2008

Ours was processed very quickly, we went in 3rd january with the form and all the documents and we received a phone call two days later to say we qualified, a letter about 7 days later and a payment about a week later.......

Damzel_In_Distress

dmg24 wrote: »

I think you are in for a big shock - unless you are severely disabled, the most LHA you can expect to receive is £92.31 per week (or £88.50 depending on which BRMA you come under).

How did you work that out ?

My LHA is £95.47 per week :rolleyes:

Anthillmob

the LA i work for we have to hone claimants and make quick apptoinments for them to bring in the required documents and then work on the case as soon as we have the docs, meets the government set target for getting claims processed quickly. however not every LA work to the same hymn sheet unfortunately.

we HAVE to phone every claimant even when there is a change of circs and get the info ASAP.

if we cant get hold of the claimant then we send letters.

real1314

Damzel_In_Distress wrote: »

How did you work that out ?

My LHA is £95.47 per week :rolleyes:

DMG has probably used the LHA check here:- https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/Secure/LHARateSearch.aspx?SearchType=LA

OP has looked at the "single room self contained" rate, but as an under 25 year old they will probably only get the "single room shared" rate.

Edit:- Also, OP, if your JSA has not yet been awarded, that will probably hold up your claim. They need the JSA award in place normally, although they could possibly do an award without it.

hm71_2

this site offers the best indicator of local LHA rates perhaps the OP could work it out on here.
https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

bestpud

Damzel_In_Distress wrote: »

How did you work that out ?

My LHA is £95.47 per week :rolleyes:

Still a lot less than the £155 he is expecting!

I've been told by my HA that my local council are taking 3-4 months at the moment.

What have you been living off until now OP?

You are only entitled to LHA for a room in a shared house/flat so you may have to move if you don't find work adn ca't affod the top up.

Beta89

Aloha everyone and thankyou for all your helpful replies...

When i moved in here i paid 3months rent in advance, and had 2months rent in cash savings too.
So i had to live off that until now.


And in relation to the amount i get i came to the figure of £155 per week by using the 'benefits calculator' on the runnymede councils website, and on the entitled-to website,
as they both came to the figure of £150 - £160 per week.



I know this may seem like alot to some people who live in more village-like towns / more northern areas (this sounds kinda offensive when i read it but im not trying to say people from the north are poor or anything like that),
but in those sorta places you can rent mid size 1bedroom flats for under £400 per month,
but in the london/surrey area there is a huge different in prices when you look online at estate-agent sites, even for tiny studio flats in the cheapest possible area of the county, like where i moved into.

In an 80miles radius from the town i live in the cheapest you could get for a 1bed flat would be £700, with an average price being over £900 p/m.



My rent before bills is £675 per month, so even £150 per month wouldnt cover it.

Beta89

fluffymovie wrote: »

With regard to Interim Payments, the Local Authority are under an obligation to process claims as soon as reasonably possible. A payment on account can be made after 14 days if all the information has been provided but if you think about it, by the time the assessor looks at the claim, if they have what they need, they will assess it!
.

This is where i saw about interim payment entitlements-
http://www.edinburghclaimants.org/HB.html