Council Tax Benefit

emmhan05

Hi there,

Im new to all this and have a question that I cant seem to find an answer anywhere.

I have just realised that we are entitled to Council Tax Benefit and would of qualified for it since April 09 however when I was at the benefits office they said my reason of 'I did not know we qualified' was not good enough, I then also added the fact I had just had a baby was stressful, but yet again was told by a lady who you would think the money was coming out of her own pocket that this was not good enough either.

We have never had to claim benefits before we have both worked hard and payed tax for ten years now and I just cant believe how hard it is to claim benefits.

Does anyone have any suggestions that have worked for them or is there any loop holes?? Pls help! Thanks

Kimitatsu

You have to prove exceptional circumstances to have it backdated, ignorance of the benefits system is not deemed a reason not to have claimed.

Getting Housing Benefit backdated

You may be able to get some Housing Benefit for a period before you make your claim if you could have claimed earlier. Getting benefit for a period before you claim is called ‘backdating’. You can get backdated Housing Benefit for six months if you can show you have a good reason for not claiming earlier, for example, you were given wrong advice. You also have to show that you were entitled to Housing Benefit throughout the period of backdating – that you were paying rent, and your income was low enough. You will not usually get any backdated benefit just because you did not know that you could make a claim. You should explain on your claim form that you want to claim benefit from an earlier date, and give your reasons for failing to claim earlier.

emmhan05

We defo qualify for the backdated money its just our reason is not good enough. Its a shame and I think unfair that we will not receive this money because we just didnt know the benefit existed.

simone83

Unfortunatly, its whats called 'continuous good cause' and the fact that you didnt know you could claim isnt a valid reason is 99/100 cases.

The LA will accept reasons such a hospitalisation / mental illness or breavement as a reason for backdating - but only as far as what they deem reasonable.

So you can see by the limited nature and the severity of the reasons allowed for backdating, they are pretty harsh! And with all the advice and websites out there tell people what and when to claim - backdating is pretty hard to come by.

The reason most LAs give for not backdating is that people have claimed before and know the system and have had award letter in the past explaining the process - however, you havent so this could be a ground to have it looked at.

Dont take the lady on the desks word as gospel either, this rule is up to the interpritation of the processor and what is one person good cause, isnt someone elses! as I very much doubt she will process your claim I would put in a backdate request anyway and see where it gets you.They can only say no - again!

Write down all the reasons you didnt claim sooner and be as indepth as possible.

Good luck.

alison999

emmhan05 wrote: »

We defo qualify for the backdated money its just our reason is not good enough. Its a shame and I think unfair that we will not receive this money because we just didnt know the benefit existed.

but then people could not claim for years so that they build up a lump sum then where would we be? there has to be a cut off point somewhere along the line. be thankful you can get help now.

fluffymovie

Just to add, backdates can only be awarded for a maximum of 6 months for customer's of working age. Unless you claimed in October, even if the LA accept that you have Good Cause, you won't get any backdate to April 09 in any case.
We come across a lot of people who didn't know that CTB was around but every year your Ctax bill should advise you that there is help there. In my LA, we also do mailshots twice a year and send out letters with every Ctax letter regarding claiming for CTB so it is harder for people in my area to say they didn't know about benefit.
Sorry to hear that the system isn't working for you