Council are being a pain & won't backdate my housing benefit

Jowo_2

You are only entitled to benefits if you apply for them, indeed. To apply for them, you have to know of their existence and the basic criteria for eligibility. If you don't belong to a culture familiar with the benefit systems, you can't apply for something that you don't know about in a timely way.

Millions of pounds of benefits go unpaid to those who are eligible for them while millions of pounds gets overpaid to those with expert knowledge of the system and can defraud it. It is apparent from this thread alone that the system doesn't serve the needy though there are always going to be various disputes about the needy versus the 'deserving'.

For those who want to discuss changes to the benefits system, such as mandatory acceptance of employment by graduates unrelated to their degrees, the abolition of the savings threshold and the requirement that those on benefits must return home to live with their parents, there is a policy discussion here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1775027