Help writing appeal for suspension of HB and CTB - self employed

alanamyles

I am very annoyed and rather worried as my local authority have suddenly suspended my claim for housing and council tax benefit. I need to appeal (and it seems I also have to make a new claim?) in order to get them reinstated, and would very much appreciate any help I can get with this in order to ensure my claim is dealt with as soon as possible.

Here's what's happening.

I'm a self-employed single mom of three, on a low income in receipt of CTC and WTC.

In early October I received a usual letter from the LA asking for proofs of my self-employed earnings to be received before 23rd of October so the benefits service could assess my continued eligibility for HB and CTB. This happens every few months and usually I receive a letter a few weeks later explaining my claim is continued.

This time I received a letter stating that my claim had been SUSPENDED, along with a new form for self-employed earnings assessment which I need to fill in and send back with the accompanying documentation for my earnings. The letter mentioned a change in circumstances which had affected my claim.

I immediately called to ask what on earth was going on! There has been no change in my circumstances, and tbh my earnings this quarter are a little down from last quarter so no reason I could fathom for the suspension. The lady I spoke to said the reason for the suspension was because the department wanted me to fill in the self-employed earnings form, and that this filling in of the form constituted my change in circumstances! I don't understand this!

She confirmed my previous statement of earnings had been received, but for whatever reason it wasn't enough and now I have to virtually start my claim all over again. I have no problem filling in this form and handing over the documentation again, but am very upset that my claim is suspended. It can take many weeks (often months) for HB and CTB claims to be processed my my LA due to being self employed - last year it took 3 months to process my change in circumstances when I took maternity leave and in the meantime the Council were hassling me almost daily about rent and council tax arrears which I couldn't afford to pay since I was waiting on the claim.

Another letter I received today officially confirms my HB and CTB were suspended from October 30th, with the official reason statied as AWAITING RESPONSE FROM CLAIMANT. It says I can appeal this suspension, which I fully intend to do in addition to filling in the forms and sending the relevant docs.

Could anyone please advise how best to write such an appeal? So far as I'm aware I've done everything required to maintain my claim, it's as though the suspension was done on a whim!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

benefitbaby

You need to take a 2 pronged approach:
1. Submit all the paperwork they need to assess your suspended claim before the deadline they have given (or they could close claim), and
2. Request a written explanation of the reasons for their decision to suspend your claim (including the relevant legislation/regulations used). Without this information you will not be able to establish if you have any grounds to appeal the suspension decision - it is unlikely to be a 'whim'.

If/when you submit an appeal it merely needs to be a letter (including your full name, address and HB/CTB reference number) and it should state
"I wish to appeal against the decision made on [insert date] to suspend my HB/CTB for the following reasons...."

coffeelover65

So you were sent a letter asking you complete an enclosed form and return this by 23rd October, you haven't done this, and now the HB department has correctly suspended your claim to avoid an overpayment of taxpayers money, and now you intend to submit an appeal this decision? Am I understanding this correctly?

alanamyles

coffeelover65 wrote: »

So you were sent a letter asking you complete an enclosed form and return this by 23rd October, you haven't done this, and now the HB department has correctly suspended your claim to avoid an overpayment of taxpayers money, and now you intend to submit an appeal this decision? Am I understanding this correctly?

No, I'm afraid you've not understood this correctly. I'm sorry I was unclear in my post, I'm very worried and "ranty"!

Two forms were sent. The first, which I needed to respond to by October 23rd WAS responded to, with ALL of the correct documentation included. This would have arrived with the benefits department by around the 19th/20th of October, in plenty of time before the deadline. It is confirmed that this form and documentation was received. Whether or not it has been processed I don't know. Regardless, my claim is on hold until the second form has been processed.

The second form arrived last week. This was different from the first form (which had asked for recent proof of my earnings). It is similar to the form I had to fill in when I very first became self-employed.

I filled this in, gathered EVERYTHING I could regarding my earnings for the past year and took this to the local housing office today to be photocopied and faxed through to the benefits department. Again, I got a receipt for this to confirm the documents have been sent. I was told there was a backlog of seven weeks for HB/CTB claims to be processed, and mine may take even longer due to being self-employed.

When I arrived home, I found three letters from the Housing about my rent arrears, which is obviously due to HB not being paid last week (and now this week). Had to call and explain, luckily details of HB suspension were present on my account but was told to call the benefits office regularly to try and "hurry up" my claim.

Believe me coffeelover65, I wish I didn't need to ask for help with my rent and council tax. I am working, and pay a percentage of my rent/council tax, I just can't afford to pay it all while still putting food on the table.

Last year I asked if I could send my earnings statements monthly, thinking that any changes could be worked out quickly without leading to any delays in benefit payments, but was advised it would only delay claims even further by adding to the benefits sections' workload (which is understandable, though I'd love to be able to do something to ensure everything runs more smoothly).

alanamyles

benefitbaby wrote: »

You need to take a 2 pronged approach:
1. Submit all the paperwork they need to assess your suspended claim before the deadline they have given (or they could close claim), and
2. Request a written explanation of the reasons for their decision to suspend your claim (including the relevant legislation/regulations used). Without this information you will not be able to establish if you have any grounds to appeal the suspension decision - it is unlikely to be a 'whim'.

If/when you submit an appeal it merely needs to be a letter (including your full name, address and HB/CTB reference number) and it should state
"I wish to appeal against the decision made on [insert date] to suspend my HB/CTB for the following reasons...."

Thank you benefitbaby, I handed in the form and all documentation this morning to the local housing office (photocopied, verified and faxed through to the benefits department). I may have handed over more documentation than was necessary but would really rather avoid being asked for something I didn't provide in the first place!

Will call the benefits office Friday just to be absolutely sure everything was received. I have a receipt for what was sent, but know from prior experience that documents are known to get "lost".

I'm just desperate to make sure I don't accrue arrears or end up with a notice seeking possession. Being self-employed I've always had delays with processing benefit claims, and simply can't afford to pay the lot. Sometimes it seems it would be easier to give up work and claim Income Support just so my claim for HB would be simpler to process, but then I'd lose my self-respect - I want to work! If only I could jump into a well-paying job so I needn't be concerned about this =/

coffeelover65

At least you have receipts as it sounds like that first set of documents might never have been scanned onto the benefit departments system.

As long as you've submitted everything then there's nothing else you can do except wait for the processing of the claim. Those letters you receive about rent arrears and advising you to "hurry up" the claim are just pointless as you can't do anymore than you have done and they're aware of this.

The advice re the monthly submissions is correct, it would really cause a huge amount of problems for you and your claim would be in a constant status of change.

Don't worry about notice of seeking possession, they send these out willy nilly, 99% of the time if these things ever do arrive in court which is only in cases where the tenant ignores all letters/contact the judge is told there is a HB claim in progress and the case is delayed for another 4 weeks until its solved.

Edit to add, don't waste your time on an appeal as the decision to suspend a claim cannot be appealed against. Just do what you said about phoning on Friday to make sure they've received everything, when it comes to getting processed the suspension will be lifted and the claim amended.