How far back can I claim HB?

NASA_2

spacemonkey95 wrote: »

Please stop making these pointless analogies.

No.

The HMRC do not deal with Housing Costs and you should have checked it with the relevant authority rather than taking their word for it. Its your own fault.

Zara33

spacemonkey95 wrote: »

I'm not sure why some of you are persisting down that route. The Inland Revenue DO deal with these things - if they didn't then they wouldn't have benefits information on their website. They deal with Working Tax Credits which have a relationship with Housing Benefits so they are implicitly required to know about Housing Benefit.

And if DVLA had information about Housing Benefits on their website, and professed to know about it on their telephone helpline, then yes I WOULD ask them... and I would expect them to give accurate information.

Please stop making these pointless analogies.

Nowhere on the HMRC website does it state they deal will housing benefit! :rolleyes:
It does however state what benefits they deal will for example child benefit, child tax credits, working tax credits.

Think about it for a minute...do the HMRC deal with council tax benefit, Income support, JSA, ESA, Income support etc etc etc simple answer no you have to see a different department.

real1314

spacemonkey95 wrote: »

I'm not sure why some of you are persisting down that route. The Inland Revenue DO deal with these things - if they didn't then they wouldn't have benefits information on their website. They deal with Working Tax Credits which have a relationship with Housing Benefits so they are implicitly required to know about Housing Benefit.

And if DVLA had information about Housing Benefits on their website, and professed to know about it on their telephone helpline, then yes I WOULD ask them... and I would expect them to give accurate information.

Please stop making these pointless analogies.

Hey, my wages have a relationship with tax, housing benefit, tax credits and many other things. My employer has pointers to a lot of these things in staff guides (e.g If i get extra wages, my tax credits might be affected) - so I can ask my employer about these things and expect some comeback if they get it wrong? No.
HMRC have info about how various benefits and incomes affect the things THEY deal with. Not how entitlement to such thngs is worked out or what criteria apply. Jeez they have info about how inheritances are taxed - should they help with a legal dispute about a will?

spacemonkey95

The thing is, the more you all try and argue that point, the more you prove my position. You see, the point is that despite all of that they still unequivocally stated to me that I was NOT ENTITLED to it. If they aren't supposed to be an authority on it then they shouldn't say such things. If they hadn't mentioned it then fair enough, and if they said they didn't know, then fair enough. But they didn't - they told me I was not entitled to it. Forgive me, but having been told that by someone who is telling me all about working tax credits etc... it doesn't seem reasonable that I should then have pestered the local council or whoever just in case they were wrong.

I was still misled, and therefore missed out because of official misinformation, not ignorance.

NASA_2

spacemonkey95 wrote: »

I was still misled, and therefore missed out because of official misinformation, not ignorance.

Yes, but an official of another department, if you were misled by an officer of the relevant authority then you would have a case.

It doesnt matter how adamant the person was that they were right, they were wrong, but they didnt work with housing costs, so that isnt a suprise.

Zara33

ESA wrote: »

Yes, but an official of another department, if you were misled by an officer of the relevant authority then you would have a case.

It doesnt matter how adamant the person was that they were right, they were wrong, but they didnt work with housing costs, so that isnt a suprise.

Me thinks your wasting your time

real1314

spacemonkey95 wrote: »

The thing is, the more you all try and argue that point, the more you prove my position. You see, the point is that despite all of that they still unequivocally stated to me that I was NOT ENTITLED to it. If they aren't supposed to be an authority on it then they shouldn't say such things. If they hadn't mentioned it then fair enough, and if they said they didn't know, then fair enough. But they didn't - they told me I was not entitled to it. Forgive me, but having been told that by someone who is telling me all about working tax credits etc... it doesn't seem reasonable that I should then have pestered the local council or whoever just in case they were wrong.

I was still misled, and therefore missed out because of official misinformation, not ignorance.

"having been told that by someone who is telling me all about working tax credits" - you seem to have grasped their area of expertise, but you seem to have dropped the claim that HMRC's website explains other benefits. Funny that.

Anyways, a guy in the pub told me I can't get HB, should I sue him?
Or, why don't you issue a court writ to sue HMRC rather than waste your time on here?

I smell Troll.

hbgirl

Macro wrote: »

There is no legislation that defines what is and what isn't good cause. In fact, guidance states that ignorance of itself and failure to make enquiries does not necessarily rule out good cause. The key is if the ignorance and failure to make enquiries were reasonable.

'Reasonable' is a very subjective word, and I therefore do think it's not about a black and white application of the law but about opinion, and reason. It's about whether in the assessors opinion good cause is demonstrated.

I have known claims to be successfully backdated through ignorance, both in the office and on appeal.

OP still has no hope, though. :rotfl:

Hi Macro, yep, you are right of course, and my post was too simplistic when i said "it's the law", but also it's not *just* opinion, there is a wealth of case law to refer to even in the absence of definitions... and even if it does come down to opinion, it's a *professional* opinion. i'm really not arguing with you, i promise, but saying it is assessors "opinion" makes it seem a bit like i can just do whatever i want, it's not my *personal* opinion is all i meant....

back to OP and all that, ignorance and failure to make relevant enquiries CAN be good cause, but only in conjunction with other factors, such as age, experience, health etc of the claimant.... which of course Macro you already know....

so say a person had some learning disability, was very young, had no-one to help him etc.... we might decide this meant he could not reasonably be expected to realise that HMRC and the council were different, the backdate might well be approved... please don't be offended anyone, this is an EXAMPLE!!!

spacemonkey95

real1314 wrote: »

Anyways, a guy in the pub told me I can't get HB, should I sue him?
Or, why don't you issue a court writ to sue HMRC rather than waste your time on here?

I smell Troll.

How rude of you.

dmg24

Was there a point to dredging up a year old thread?

spacemonkey95, if you have a new query about your benefits entitlement, feel free to start a new thread.