Council Tax and retrospective benefits.

mcscoty1973

terryw wrote: »

Probably entitlement to full HB would allow for full CTB if it was self-contained dwelling only for that family.

The council can't revoke entitlement to benefits because of CT arrears.

Okay thats brill gives me somethign to go on. Will ask girlfriend about situation later on so I can get up to speed. if it turns out that it was the one form and she should have got benefit but didnt will be calling council to justify this and ajust the debt accordingly.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks for help.

terryw

And it might be a good idea to follow-up the phone call/visit with a polite letter (proof of posting and delivery) pointing our that CTB was claimed at the same time and on the same form as HB which was granted (assuming that your authority only use the one form for both). Check with girlfriend first about other things which might have confused the issue, like sharing or two properties.

Aarons_mummy

I noticed in your post Stirling which is right near me. I only had the one form to fill in for CTB and HB. When I moved and went onto LHA the forms were joined together.

On IS she would have been entitled to full benefit, however the water and sewage charges of £10.24 per fortnight are still payable even whilst on IS.

mcscoty1973

Aarons_mummy wrote: »

I noticed in your post Stirling which is right near me. I only had the one form to fill in for CTB and HB. When I moved and went onto LHA the forms were joined together.

On IS she would have been entitled to full benefit, however the water and sewage charges of £10.24 per fortnight are still payable even whilst on IS.

Thanks Aarons mummy.

The Stirling in my post refers to Stirling Park the councils appointed debt collector and all time nice guys :-(

We live in Argyll & Bute so unsure if it is/was different here.

So she would only need to pay 10.24 a fortnight or 266.24 max a year...interesting...some years are for that amount, others for near 700

Bottom line here, if CTB is part of the housing benefit form in this area, and for some reason or other she got housing benefit but no CTB is it reasonable to assume the council are at fault and the debt should be reduced to reflect this?

terryw

On the face of it, yes, but really anything else is conjecture until you have had a word with the girlfriend and contacted the council.

The water and sewerage charges are a bit of a red-herring here as they are not included in council tax.
In any case the amount will differ from property to property and local authority area.

fluffymovie

HB and ctb are separate benefits but a legislative easement means that normally we offer both benefits on 1 form.

I thunk you'll find it hard stating this is the councils fault as bills, reminders, summons will all have been issued which she has ignored.

Also, the maximum benefit backdate is 6 months for working age claimants

mcscoty1973

fluffymovie wrote: »

HB and ctb are separate benefits but a legislative easement means that normally we offer both benefits on 1 form.

I thunk you'll find it hard stating this is the councils fault as bills, reminders, summons will all have been issued which she has ignored.

Also, the maximum benefit backdate is 6 months for working age claimants

The point is if it is standard practice (and common sense) that if your entitled to and need full housing benefit, you also apply/require council tax benefit as well.

I am under no dilusion that my girlfriend is at fault here for ignoring things, but that equally applies to the council if it is standard practice. Are there really people in receipt of housing benefit but not in receipt of council tax benefit as well?


According to my girlfrient when she claimed for housing benefit, CTB was on a diffrent form but it was part of the same proicess and supplied along with the housing benefit.

It looks like there are 3 years where no CTB was applied, but the other years it is possible this was sorted as they look around the right value for water/sewrage rates. I can't find all the historical values on the net for Argyll and Bute but they are not far off the mark.

if your on CTB, and a single parent, do you still get single person discount on the water/serwage rates?

Macro_3

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

The point is if it is standard practice (and common sense) that if your entitled to and need full housing benefit, you also apply/require council tax benefit as well.

I am under no dilusion that my girlfriend is at fault here for ignoring things, but that equally applies to the council if it is standard practice. Are there really people in receipt of housing benefit but not in receipt of council tax benefit as well?

Absolutely! For example, someone claims initially in a hostel, for which they have liability to pay rent but not council tax - HB is paid, and when they move to a permanent address their HB claim is moved to the new address, but a new claim for CT would be required for CTB. A claim should be invited as good practice, but ultimately the responsibility lies with the claimant, and no claim = no benefit. Might apply in any circumstance where she had no liability to start with - if she didn't let the CT dept. know she was resident and liable when she moved in, where she was a student, or where she was under 18, for example.

It also commonly occurs where someone is in and out of work. If they have a low wage, they may qualify for HB but not CTB. When they then leave work and claim Income support again, their HB claim would revert to full entitlement, but a new claim to CTB would be required. Again, a claim should be invited as good practice but the LA has no duty to do so, and as your girlfriend demonstrates you cannot force someone to claim.

In short, it is not reasonable to assume that because HB was paid in full without CTB that the LA was at fault. It does happen.

DX2

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

Bottom line here, if CTB is part of the housing benefit form in this area, and for some reason or other she got housing benefit but no CTB is it reasonable to assume the council are at fault and the debt should be reduced to reflect this?

So was it on the same form or a different form altogether?

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

According to my girlfrient when she claimed for housing benefit, CTB was on a diffrent form but it was part of the same proicess and supplied along with the housing benefit.

elmer

As you are in Scotland it will be the water and sewerage charges that are outstanding, there is no cap on them, and they are charged at whatever is due for your CT band, they are not covered by Council Tax benefit.

We find that a lot of people dont understand that these amounts are still due when they are on Income support as they believe that the Council Tax benefit means that they dont pay the Council Tax bill, so they just ignore it.

Elmer