Am I automatically going to recieve Housing Benefit?

ldu06lhd

Hi,

I recently undertook a rapid reclaim for my JSA as I was only in work for 2 months before being made redundant!:(

They asked me on the phone and when I went for my JSA advisor appointment if I wanted to claim Housing and Council tax benefit. To which I said 'yes'.

I have had my letter from JSA stating my entitlement and dates I will be paid, but have not yet recieved anything from my local council. I can of course ring them on Monday which I will do... but now I am growing concerned that my money for HB and CB won't be backdated to my JSA claim date.

Rent is coming up and it's all a little stressful. Has anyone else been in this situation? I.e did they have to fill in seperate forms? Was thier Council Tax and housing benefit automatically awarded?

I seem to remember last time I filled in the CT and HB forms before being awarded JSA and it was already being processed when I called to sort it out... so in that instance it was automatic... Oh dear!

HelP! :eek:

SarEl

Nobody gets HB automatically - it is means tested. Whether or not the information they have is sufficient to reprocess your claim or not is down to their rules. But you need to speak to them urgntly about it. Although I know that in parts of the country the baclog on processing a claim can be several weeks long.

terryw

As a general rule, you are better to fill in the forms for HB and CTB from your local council, rather than the ones from the JC. The JC forms are not comprehensive, and once they reach the council they often send you their own forms anyway for completion. By going direct you are cutting down a layer of bureaucracy.

In your own case, I would contact the council asap and ask about the progress of your claim just in case the JC forms have not reached there.

missdee85

They ask you that just apparently so you are aware that you can claim it they then inform the council that you are on benefits but as far as i am aware they do nothing with that unless you fill out the forms.

My advice would be to fill in the HB form as soon as you can i know that my council will only pay you when they have received it and begin payments the following monday so potentially you have a period where they are paying nothing.

Good luck xx