is it possible to appeal to the council over a change of circumstances decision ?

jasonwatkins

i'm going to go to the office tomorrow to talk to someone, but i would just be interested to know if anyone had done something along these lines or if it's even possible ?

basically, i've been put on appeal rate ESA of £67.50 a week until my Incapacity Benefit appeal goes through and i've recently filled out a change of circumstances form with the council.

I got the decision yesterday and they apparently still want me to pay £10.40 a week rent, on top of £10.32 a week for water rates and insurance.

So that leaves me £46.78 a week. If i do it one way, and prioritise gas, electric and my 3 contractual commitments (sky, mobile, landline), then it leaves me £2.40 a day to live on, to cover food & any household expenses.

if i do it another way and prioritise gas, electric and food it still leaves me around £3 quid a day for food & expenses, but it doesn't then leave me with enough to cover my commitments.

When I filled out the form at the council, the person i spoke to indicated that the rent would be fully covered but this doesn't appear to have happened.

Lady_gaga

cancel Sky, mobile and land line, they are not necessities...

BoGoF

Your priority outgoings are in way in the wrong order

jasonwatkins

BoGoF wrote: »

Your priority outgoings are in way in the wrong order

Did you actually read my post ?. I did point out both ways I could potentially move forward.

Lady_gaga wrote: »

cancel Sky, mobile and land line, they are not necessities...

While I agree they are not necessities, I am still within the minimum contracted period for all three so it wouldn't be cancelling, it would be defaulting. And it would saddle me with something to the tune of an additional £300 quid worth of debt on top of my current debt.

But then that wasn't really my initial question.

Lady_gaga

you normaly have 1 month to appeal a decision made by housing benefit...

jasonwatkins

Thankyou..

Notmyrealname

jasonwatkins wrote: »

While I agree they are not necessities, I am still within the minimum contracted period for all three so it wouldn't be cancelling, it would be defaulting. And it would saddle me with something to the tune of an additional £300 quid worth of debt on top of my current debt.

But then that wasn't really my initial question.

Better to default than starve. If you are under 35 you're going to be hit by the lower HB rates soon anyway so you need to get your finances sorted out to be able to live on that now.

jasonwatkins

i'm 41. i haven't completely ruled out ditching the contracts to be honest, but i'd rather not if there's a way around it.

drc

Get rid of Sky for a start and get Freeview. Not as many channels as Sky but it is free (tv permitting).

uganda

jasonwatkins wrote: »

i'm going to go to the office tomorrow to talk to someone, but i would just be interested to know if anyone had done something along these lines or if it's even possible ?

basically, i've been put on appeal rate ESA of £67.50 a week until my Incapacity Benefit appeal goes through and i've recently filled out a change of circumstances form with the council.

I got the decision yesterday and they apparently still want me to pay £10.40 a week rent, on top of £10.32 a week for water rates and insurance.

So that leaves me £46.78 a week. If i do it one way, and prioritise gas, electric and my 3 contractual commitments (sky, mobile, landline), then it leaves me £2.40 a day to live on, to cover food & any household expenses.

if i do it another way and prioritise gas, electric and food it still leaves me around £3 quid a day for food & expenses, but it doesn't then leave me with enough to cover my commitments.

When I filled out the form at the council, the person i spoke to indicated that the rent would be fully covered but this doesn't appear to have happened.

Are you renting privately? If so, it may be that they have changed your local housing allowance rate, which they shouldn't have done unless they had been using your old one for a year or unless you have also had a change in your household, which you don't mention.

I can see no reason from what you have said that your housing benefit should have gone down on the grounds of your income, so I can only imagine it is for other reasons. Have you got your entitlement letter to hand? Check the details are correct.

EDIT: Sorry I may have misread - you said they were still expecting you to pay £10.40pw, so it hasn't actually changed, right? In which case you are only asking about budgeting after all?

I_love_Harrison

uganda wrote: »

EDIT: Sorry I may have misread - you said they were still expecting you to pay £10.40pw, so it hasn't actually changed, right? In which case you are only asking about budgeting after all?

His money would of dropped quite considerably as long term IB pay's more than he's getting for ESA £67.50 now (IB £108.05 p/w).