I have been denied Housing Benefit backpay.

samwich1979

cosmic-dust wrote: »

How can she use that excuse? She hasn't taken reasonable steps and by advising her to now do these things are pretty sly. I would go as far as saying you are telling the OP to lie.

I wouldnt do this anyway as i know that is not what happened.

I took what i saw as reasonable steps, i asked my local council for help when my family were struggling, this was in April 2011 and it took them until August 2011 to tell me i was entitled but i cannot prove any of this as it was all verbal.

You really would think id done something wrong by taking a council advisors word for it and thinking "maybe my wages are a bit high for HB"......................

I really didnt think i would have been entitled but thankfully i was.

samwich1979

Tory70 wrote: »

You really do moan an awful lot. Every post echoes with your cries of 's'not fair'. Try to fret less about what other people get and concentrate on your own situation. You'll be a lot happier.

Personally, I think it's great that the over 60's have a few 'perks'. God only knows most will have earned them.

Its hard for people, especially ones who work hard for their money, not to have a moan when others get things you cant just because they are over 60!

I personally think ive earned something for the 16 years of contributions ive given to this country.

Its £300 FOR GODS SAKE!

clemmatis

samwich1979 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me why over 60's dont need good reason to claim HB back pay? The council officer i spoke to told me it was just a government regulation but to me it stinks of being ageist which i didnt think would be allowed these days.

Can you tell me why people over 65 can't get any form of mobility disability benefit (attendance allowance contains no mobility component)?

To me it stinks of being ageist...

samwich1979 wrote: »

I really do think this is discrimination and i did mention it in my letter to the housing officer.

Good. I hope you'll also email your MP about the lack of a mobility component in attendance allowance.

MamaMoo_2

Perhaps people over 60 get a bit of leniency due to their age, and the possibility that a higher percentage of over 60's are ill/disabled/not computer literate/mobility problems which can all have a detrimental effect on one's ability to try and get help.
As it stands, it's entirely possible that the council didn't mention HB as if you were bothering to claim tax credits, you probably wouldn't be entitled, and as tax credits is more p/w than HB, they pushed that instead?

teagan1966

hi
i only get about that much and im only on 12 k with tax credits , my wages arnt even 6 k
that is for 2 people so unless u live somewhere realy expencive id say it wasnt right

pandaspot

Over 60's have their claims backdated for 3 months automatically if they qualify for benefit for the whole period. You would have hated the rules even more before 2008 when they could have there claims backdated a year automatically without any need of any request. But the rules changed to 3 months for them.

Think if you want to know the answer why these are the rules best ask a local mp to maybe raise it in parliament? Regulations are regulations unfortunately

Best thing to do is appeal the decision, you have one calendar month to do this

supermaiden

I was interested in seeing if I would be entitled to any HB. We are 2 adults and a baby aswell. We earn less than 15k a year working though at the minute Im off on maternity leave. We are not entitled. I dont know how someone can be entitled on such a high income but there you go. I dont think its unfair you didnt get the backpay, I think its unfair you get it at all.

skater_kat

all the energy spent venting and writing to housing officers, is that worth £300? if it were me, i would write it off and figure out how to reduce outgoings etc and save myself the stress of the whole thing.

adamantine

samwich1979 wrote: »

I wouldnt do this anyway as i know that is not what happened.

I took what i saw as reasonable steps, i asked my local council for help when my family were struggling, this was in April 2011 and it took them until August 2011 to tell me i was entitled but i cannot prove any of this as it was all verbal.

You really would think id done something wrong by taking a council advisors word for it and thinking "maybe my wages are a bit high for HB"......................

I really didnt think i would have been entitled but thankfully i was.

why ask your local council for help when struggling? you go to the job centre for that. you stated it took them over 4 months to get back to you but surely any resonable person would have gone back after a week and chased up a response. i know i would have and done so every week till i got an answer to my questions. afterall thats what the advisors are there for.

this all boils down to you and you need to take responsibility for that. you asked but didnt chase up or get a 2nd opinion from a more reliable source. you didnt think you were entitled so you didnt apply.

if you have grounds to get backpay that opens the doors for many many other people to try to claim backpay meaning it takes up more of the councils time and money investigating whether these claims are legitimate.

just accept your mistake, learn from it and move on.

cosmic-dust

adamantine wrote: »

why ask your local council for help when struggling? you go to the job centre for that. you stated it took them over 4 months to get back to you but surely any resonable person would have gone back after a week and chased up a response. i know i would have and done so every week till i got an answer to my questions. afterall thats what the advisors are there for.

The jobcentre don't deal with housing benefit claims. Some local councils also offer benefit advice.