I have been denied Housing Benefit backpay.

samwich1979

Why?

If i had known i was entitled to HB in June i would have applied for it then but as i earn £26000 a year as a sole income for 2 adults and a baby , i always get told this is still too high a wage to claim.

But it works out i am entitled and i got my first payment of £93.70 on 3rd October and every 2 weeks after this.

My back pay claim in September apparently didnt give good enough reason or proof as to why i hadnt claimed before and i did fully explain all of the above and the debt problems i am having and my circumstances.
I also gave the advisor at the council payslips, CAB letters, a finacial statement with a full breakdown of my income and outgoings and debts and she said they wouldnt be needed as my written letter had enough information for them.

She was so so wrong!

So i went back today with all of the above evidence and a 3 page letter to the council and they have scanned it all onto thier system to send to another housing officer to review, which can take at least 2 weeks, i waited 5 for this letter saying i was getting nothing.........

So basically, if i applied in June for HB i would have got it, so why can they not just give me what i should have been getting now?

The system stinks when you see on the Direct Gov website that over 60's dont need to give proof or have good reason to get back pay.
This has to be age discrimination and totally illegal!?

Fiver29

Christ that's more than I get as a single parent earning less than half your wage.

Must be doing something wrong

samwich1979

They had all the correct details about me and my circumstances, so unless my council works different to yours i dont know why you get less.

This is also why i didnt think id be entitled as i earn a fir bit but again i have 3 people to look after.

MamaMoo_2

samwich1979 wrote: »

Why?

If i had known i was entitled to HB in June i would have applied for it then but as i earn £26000 a year as a sole income for 2 adults and a baby , i always get told this is still too high a wage to claim.

But it works out i am entitled and i got my first payment of £93.70 on 3rd October and every 2 weeks after this.

My back pay claim in September apparently didnt give good enough reason or proof as to why i hadnt claimed before and i did fully explain all of the above and the debt problems i am having and my circumstances.
I also gave the advisor at the council payslips, CAB letters, a finacial statement with a full breakdown of my income and outgoings and debts and she said they wouldnt be needed as my written letter had enough information for them.

She was so so wrong!

So i went back today with all of the above evidence and a 3 page letter to the council and they have scanned it all onto thier system to send to another housing officer to review, which can take at least 2 weeks, i waited 5 for this letter saying i was getting nothing.........

So basically, if i applied in June for HB i would have got it, so why can they not just give me what i should have been getting now?

The system stinks when you see on the Direct Gov website that over 60's dont need to give proof or have good reason to get back pay.
This has to be age discrimination and totally illegal!?

Hopefully you'll eventually get your back pay, but the council aren't obliged to pay you any.
I've just applied for HB, and for me, OH and DS1, with a yearly income of £9000 plus tax credits and child benefit, we'll be entitled to ~£33 a week.
I've applied for back pay, but I doubt I'll get it, as the guidance notes specifically state that there needs to be a 'good reason' for not applying sooner, and also states "Thinking that you may not be entitled to benefit or not knowing that you could claim are not normally good reasons for us to be able to backdate your claim."

skater_kat

yes usually it is not allowed if your reason was that you didn't know about it.

samwich1979

Then what do they think is a good reason?

As i said they would have been giving me that money in June had i claimed so really there should be no problem giving me it now in the form of back pay.

dseventy

Ignorance of entitlement is not a reason for back-payment.

The usual method of getting back-payment is getting poor or incorrect advice that you can prove.

Sorry, I don't think you have a case.

D70

neverdespairgirl

samwich1979 wrote: »

Then what do they think is a good reason?

As i said they would have been giving me that money in June had i claimed so really there should be no problem giving me it now in the form of back pay.

You need to have had a good reason not to have claimed - and not knowing you'd get it doesn't count.

Reasons might be mental health problems (such as being sectioned) or a very ill child, or incorrect advice that you weren't entitled (that you can prove).

The general rule is from the date of claim, not back-dated.

MamaMoo_2

According to my guidance notes

The kind of things that may be acceptable are :
You were given the wrong advice by a Council Officer!
You were incapacitated and unable to claim earlier
You had suffered a bereavement
You were unable to manage your own affairs and did not have an 'appointee'
You have language or reading difficulties and had no-one to make the claim on your behalf

As said above, ignorance is not an excuse. There are plenty of resources available to help you find out what you're entitled to.

RILEYBULL

Fiver29 wrote: »

Christ that's more than I get as a single parent earning less than half your wage.

Must be doing something wrong

That is not answering the op's question keep your trollish thoughts to yourself please REPORTED..

Fiver29

RILEYBULL wrote: »

That is not answering the op's question keep your trollish thoughts to yourself please REPORTED..

Ooo get you, trollish :rotfl::rotfl: Pot, kettle, black matey.