council 'random' check, what do i say ?

peter999

kronas wrote:

im not paranoid, as soon as i moved in i was wondering when the time would come.....it didnt, until the change of benefit then a week or two latter i get the form.

prior to it arriving i did phone then hand in evidence of my new benefit.

Maybe it's me being paranoid !!
I had a HB Review form only 3 months after my claim started !!

I could not understand why, except a change in benefits, until Housing Benefit told me system had changed, they now do random HB Reviews & there is no real logic to it.

peter999

kronas

peter999 wrote:

Maybe it's me being paranoid !!
I had a HB Review form only 3 months after my claim started !!

I could not understand why, except a change in benefits, until Housing Benefit told me system had changed, they now do random HB Reviews & there is no real logic to it.

peter999

no idea then, might be a recent thing, the letter did not mention anything about regular checks such as the three months, it just said the government requires randomly selected cases to be reviewed each month... mine just happened to be selected for this month.

lesandflynny

Kronas,

I think there is some rule which allows you to stay away from your home for holiday or family visit reasons whilst in receipt of benefit. Equally, you are entitled to have somebody stay with you for visits too, on the same basis.

I would, fill the form in and get it off your mind. Answer yes to it being your permanent home. I would not even mention your visits to family, loads of HB claimants go home for a few weeks at this time of year.... not the same I know but just another way of looking at it. They are not looking to catch you out, it is your home but you don't need to tell them your every move, things could change next week or the week after..god willing. If they don't then you can committ to telling your council at a later date if things don't improve for you.

Remember mate, you are dealing with a system, it is not human and does not have feelings, discretion or common sense. It certainly is not designed to deal with issues that fall in between very clear lines. The system will tell the civil servants to stop your payments and review your case if there is anything ticked that should not be, or anything out of ordinary. The end result being I suspect they will re-install your payments because they are human and they do have discretion. However the time between may cause you more distress and it will all be for nothing.

If the situation at ya mums gets permanent, tell them then but do not risk your security for now.

Good luck, don't worry you are not telling lies to anybody - even the system irritates those who have to deal with it. It throws out all this extra work, if only it had discretion.

Hope you get better soon mate

xx

Bogof_Babe

lesandflynny wrote:

Kronas,

I think there is some rule which allows you to stay away from your home for holiday or family visit reasons whilst in receipt of benefit. Equally, you are entitled to have somebody stay with you for visits too, on the same basis.

I would, fill the form in and get it off your mind. Answer yes to it being your permanent home. I would not even mention your visits to family, loads of HB claimants go home for a few weeks at this time of year.... not the same I know but just another way of looking at it. They are not looking to catch you out, it is your home but you don't need to tell them your every move, things could change next week or the week after..god willing. If they don't then you can committ to telling your council at a later date if things don't improve for you.

Remember mate, you are dealing with a system, it is not human and does not have feelings, discretion or common sense. It certainly is not designed to deal with issues that fall in between very clear lines. The system will tell the civil servants to stop your payments and review your case if there is anything ticked that should not be, or anything out of ordinary. The end result being I suspect they will re-install your payments because they are human and they do have discretion. However the time between may cause you more distress and it will all be for nothing.

If the situation at ya mums gets permanent, tell them then but do not risk your security for now.

Good luck, don't worry you are not telling lies to anybody - even the system irritates those who have to deal with it. It throws out all this extra work, if only it had discretion.

Hope you get better soon mate

xx

I've thanked this post because it is one of the most helpful I've read on this board for a long time, even though it's nothing to do with me. You have all the makings of a very valued contributor lesandflynny, keep it up! :T

kronas

yes i have thanked your post also, im leaving it at that and just saying no, my situation is so varied that as i said before i go through bad times and good.

thanks for the help everyone

scarborosmoggy

kronas wrote:

no, no no, not a visit, they just want me to fill a form in telling them what they already know, if there are any changes that need mentioning.

I know you're not getting a visit, I'm just telling you they do visits out of the blue here, no letters or anything soft like that.

thesaint

I don't know if this info is too late, but Housing benefit rules usually state that you can not spend more than 3 nights in a week away from your home. similarly, they want to know if someone else stays at your home for more than 3 nights a week.

Fran

thesaint wrote:

I don't know if this info is too late, but Housing benefit rules usually state that you can not spend more than 3 nights in a week away from your home. similarly, they want to know if someone else stays at your home for more than 3 nights a week.

I'm not sure this is right - have you got a source that states that?

kronas wrote:

im there everyday when fit enough, i go through peaks and troughs so its hard to say, right now im not sleeping there.

kronas,

I've re-read this thread and I think you should get proper advice about this as you have said you are not sleeping there.

The Citizens Advice website - Adviceguide says:

"If you are away from home

If you are temporarily away from home and still have to pay rent, you may be able to carry on getting Housing Benefit. This might apply, for example, if you are in hospital or if you are away from home because of a fear of violence. You can only get Housing Benefit for up to a set number of weeks while you are not living at home.

If you need to claim Housing Benefit while you are temporarily away from home, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau."

[Deleted User]

thesaint wrote:

I don't know if this info is too late, but Housing benefit rules usually state that you can not spend more than 3 nights in a week away from your home. similarly, they want to know if someone else stays at your home for more than 3 nights a week.

Total hogwash. Sorry, but perpetuating this myth helps no-one.

You are allowed to be 'temporarily absent' from your home for up to 13 or 52 weeks depending on the reason, and still be entitled to benefit.

The best advice if you're worried about it is to go into the office and explain your circumstances. Get a written record of what you have told them.

If your reasons for being absent are genuine then there isn't a problem.

The 'rules' regarding reviewing benefit claims have been subject to much debate in HB circles over the last few years, and they are about to change again for the financial year 07/08. It's too complex to go into the ins and outs on here, but the point about questions on the form being designed to trick people is also nonsense. You wouldn't believe the effort that goes into trying to design a form which captures the required information in the most customer friendly way. It's almost impossible.

peter999

charles_w wrote:

Total hogwash. Sorry, but perpetuating this myth helps no-one.

....It's too complex to go into the ins and outs on here, but the point about questions on the form being designed to trick people is also nonsense. You wouldn't believe the effort that goes into trying to design a form which captures the required information in the most customer friendly way. It's almost impossible.

It's easy to read things into many of these questions.

The general public will automatically do this assuming the wording of a question
reflects the benefit rules & may directly decide whether they are entitled to that benefit.