Housing Benefit Backdate Appeal

CACHAF

Hello, I haven't posted here in a long time due to circumstances but I am hoping someone can help me.


I was in receipt of Income Support and carers allowance asthe sole carer for my grandmother. I also received housing benefit and counciltax benefit linked to this claim. My grandmother had a massive heart attackwhile staying at our house in April of 2010 and overnight everything changedand she developed heart failure, diabetes, an autoimmune disease, kidneyfailure and problems with blood pressure. My husband (who apart from a fourmonth period in 2009 had never been out of work since leaving school was maderedundant the same week she had the heart attack and was unable to find workdespite all efforts and being willing to take any job) I slept at her flat forthe first 7 months post heart attack and then took her back to my house to carefor her after that in the hope of getting her well enough to return home, whichsadly didn’t happen. She needed round the clock care and my husband and I endedup taking it in turns to look after her night and day. She died very suddenlyin Sep 2012 when her body stopped handling the warfarin she was taking, her INRskyrocketed and she basically bled to death in my arms in resus two hours afteradmission for bruising.



As a result of her death the carers allowance and incomesupport ended eight weeks later and the housing benefit and council tax benefitwas suspended due to the change in circumstances. We should have signed on butat the time I was too distressed to go through the hassle, we had already hadmany problems with JSA (Probably see my earlier posts about this from2010/2011) and I just didn’t want more stress and pressure on me. Instead westarted working self employed as couriers which was long hours, hard work andnext to no money. We should have submitted a new claim for housing benefit butI just couldn’t bring myself to do it as it meant putting down on papereverything that had happened and seeing it in black and white was more than Icould bear – it sounds silly when I write that now, but it was so very real tome then. I believed that we would be ok as you can ask for your housing benefitclaim to be backdated for up to six months if there are exceptionalcircumstances like a bereavement. In February we had to stop the courier workas it was just too much and so now live on the money from some cleaning work Ihave managed to find (Self employed, domestic cleaning) which equals £56 a week



In April I finally made the application for housing benefitand asked for a backdate for the time from then to November when the benefitstopped. Sadly we were turned down on the grounds that it had taken us fivemonths to apply, that was the only reason given. Now we have the right to askfor a review but I have no idea what to put. I am so worried about this as ifwe are not awarded the backdate we will be evicted – our landlord has alreadyexplained this to us and on top of everything else I cannot face moving at themoment. This has been our home for five years and was where we spent the lastfew months with gran and I am so scared to lose that and the wonderful neighboursand friendships we have made and the support system we have built.



I rang shelter for help and they put me in contact with thecommunity legal team and I thought they would help us to word the appeal buttoday a letter has come saying they are unable to help as I didn’t go to my gpabout the problems I was having (I was and still am just grieving, not sick)and going back to work shows a level of functioning that means I could havefilled in he forms but for me work was escape from the house, what happened andthe pain – sitting down and filling in the forms and explaining what hadhappened and making it all official was just too painful. As the letter fromthe community legal team has only just come I don’t know what to do. Thedeadline for asking for the review is this Friday so I have very little timeand I am worried sick. I believed they would help and so didn’t look at otheravenues and so now I am very, very short on time.



Does anyone have any advice on what to do?



Thank you so much for reading and, if you do, taking thetime to reply.

pmlindyloo

As you have found out, to be able to claim backdated HB you must be able to show good cause.

The fact that neither your husband or you have visited the doctors about 'not being able to cope' with normal activities because of your bereavement and both of you continuing to work makes it difficult fot you to show good cause.

However, I would appeal/ask for a review. If you don't ask......

I would simply write what you have said here. How you both cared for your grandmother for 24 hours a day : how you worked after her death at a poorly paid job to make ends meet: how you were both affected by her death/your grieving: how you survived day to day:how working kept you from dwelling on the difficult times you both had been through: how your LL is now threatenig you with eviciton etc etc.

What ever you write you need to stress that both your husband and you were surviving under very difficult circumstances and living day to day.

I do not want to get your hopes up but as I said before 'if you don't ask...'.

CACHAF

Thank you very much for your message. It seems that trying to go back to work was the wrong decision but strangely enough working was easier than trying to deal with benefit applications and signing on - it was the easier route to work self employed and have the flexibility. It was the only thing we did though, no socialising, no visiting family and we didnt pay many bills - we just tried to survive and now we are very stuck and scared.

I have just spoken to Hb and they say there is a note on froma superviser saying that it shouldnt be backdated as we tried to start our own business and when it failed we then decided to claim HB. This is not the case at all. Throughtout the time we were self employed we would have qualified for housing benefit, it was purley a matter of filling in the forms that was the issue.

As for not visiting the GP, I should have done that but what would they have done? First of all, we share a GP with gran, the same person that came out to us all the time to see her and would have just made things harder and for not coping it would have been medication and a long waiting list for counselling - something that I am pursuing privately anyway.

I guess I am just frustrated that when we need the help it just doesnt seem to be there - whether we are in the right or not. I just want someone to acknowledge that the last 2 years as a carer were hell, that watching the family member I loved die was traumatic and agonising and I want to keep my home and just put it all behind me and feel safe again and move on.

skintandscared_2

My heart really does go out to you as it sounds like you've had a really hard time of it and losing your grandmother must have been awful.

But, picking out the salient points from one paragraph of your initial post leaves us with the bare facts, which are:

"As a result of her death the carers allowance and income support ended eight weeks later and the housing benefit and council tax benefit was suspended due to the change in circumstances. We should have signed on but at the time I was too distressed to go through the hassle.... Instead we started working self employed as couriers which was long hours, hard work and next to no money. We should have submitted a new claim for housing benefit but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it .... I believed that we would be ok as you can ask for your housing benefit claim to be backdated for up to six months if there are exceptional circumstances like a bereavement."

This does seem to indicate the conclusion that the HB supervisor came to was correct, based on the facts, even if it wasn't your intention. I can understand how they would be confused as to why filling in a couple of forms was too distressing, but starting a new business of long hours and hard work wasn't?

Out of interest, who told you that it was okay to backdate your HB claim for six months in the case of a bereavement? They may also be looking at the fact that it is almost exactly six months since your grandmother died that you have attempted to make this backdated claim - that could be contributing to why they believe you are only doing it because your business has failed?

I'm honestly not sure what you could base an appeal on but I really do wish you the best of luck.

CACHAF

Thank you for your help. I just feel like the last two years have shown me how stupid / naive I am. I thought when my gran got sick that there would be help available, I was wrong. Then when she died I thought we would be able to get help and again it seems I am wrong. Apart from a four month period in 2009 and this two and a half year period now, my husband has always been in full time work, paid our way and lived without any benefits - I think I am most hurt about the lack of help there when we actually need it.

As for applying when our business failed, I had three cleaning jobs at an hour each and we worked as couriers for yodel - we never earned above the housing benefit threshold and never would. Stupid as it seems, if we had just gone straight onto jsa we wouldnt be in this mess but because we tried to work we are stuck.
The backdate forms themselves say that claims can be backdated up to six months if there has been a good reason eg bereavement, caring for someone etc. I very wrongly thought that this gave me some time to recover before having to submit the forms, a task I found very distressing and overwhelming in terms of actually having to put down on paper what had happened.

I am now so stuck what to do and so worried I cannot sleep. If we do not get the backdate awarded then we will lose our home as we owe the rent to our landlord. They have been amazing through this but have already said that if it doesnt come through then we will have to leave and they will cut their loses and this frightens me so much. At the moment the thought of having to look for a new home, pack up, leave behind the last memories we have here and the friends we have made (we have no family nearby at all) is just pulling me further and further down.

If anyone else has any advise at all I would really appreciate it.

skintandscared_2

Has the HB been started, so you can at least start paying your landlord something? If you are receiving HB, does that mean you can cover the full monthly rent now?

The thing is, I can understand that the landlord won't be too happy and they have been very understanding up to now. But if you are not awarded the backdated money, you say they will ask you to leave and they won't get a penny anyway. Maybe if you can start paying the rent now and come to some arrangement where you can start to slowly repay the rent you owe, they might let you stay? They have nothing more to lose, do they? Either way, they won't get back the rent for the last 6 months, whether they kick you out or not. Keeping you there is easier than finding new tenants and if the HB is now sorted, you can start paying rent straight away. It could take the landlord a while to find new tenants too - so that's even more time without any rent coming in.

I would honestly say your only option is to get things set up so your rent can be paid from now on, in full, every month. And offer to start trying to repay the outstanding rent, albeit in small payments. The landlord won't gain anything by throwing you out.

CACHAF

we are now receiving housung benefit which doesnt cover the full rent (we were turned down for discretionary extra payments at the same time for the shortfall of £39 a week) but we borrowed some money from a friend and have been using that to pay the shortfall for now until we know what is happening.

We are both also desperately looking for work but we are continually finding that a two year gap in a CV due to being a carer is not a positive thing to have. It seems to signla two years of being sat at home doing nothing and I wish that was the case!

Thank you for your continued help and support, you have no idea how much it means. Thank you x

skintandscared_2

Right, so the scenario right now is that you're unlikely to get the backdated HB and the amount you DO now get is £39 a week short of your rental payment, yes?

Well, as I said above, the landlord isn't going to get the previous HB money whether he kicks you out or not. That's not your fault and not his fault, it's just a fact. If he wants to make the best of a bad situation he'll let you stay there, carry on paying the rent from now on and when thing change in the future (you WILL get jobs and things will get better, honestly) then you can start repaying the LL gradually the missing 6 months' rent. He has nothing to gain by evicting you now - the rentless period is over!

But you do need to seriously work out if you can afford to stay there. If you have had to borrow money to make up the rent shortfall, what happens when that runs out? Are there any cuts you can make to expenses like food, travel, mobile phones, any Sky TV (not saying you have it - just thinking of things that could be cut down on if you do!) I know the job market is horrendous and don't envy anyone trying to find work but keep plugging away and something will turn up. Even part time. Every little helps!

And have you checked whether there are any other benefits you're entitled to, like council tax reduction and stuff like that?

CACHAF

Just wanted to post an update.

In desperation, after trying every charity and source of help i could find, I rang my local councillor. Within an hour a manager from housing benefit had rund me and asked me to explain the full story. I explained everything that had happened and she said she owuld take over the case.

Just over a week ago I got a call to say that we had been awarded the full backdate, full council tax and discretionary extrapayments from now for a period of three months to get us back on our feet! i was so shocked as i wasnt expecting to win and for the first time since I became my grans carer i feel like someone valued what we did. Now we have no rent arrears or council tax arrears and have the full rent going direct to our landlord till the start of November which gives me chance to build my business, my husband to get back into full time work and then we can stop claiming benefits and be back to normal!! She said that one of the reasons we got the award is that we had gone back to work instead of claiming JSA and so we shouldnt be penalised for trying to work - first time that has ever happened to me!

Im so happy and relieved and my faith in the system has been restored!

nannytone_2

i dont understand why you were getting carers allowance AND income support if your hysband was working?