Housing Benefit suspended due to change of address.

samwich1979

Received a letter this morning from the council saying my HB has been suspended.

It says its because of my change of address and they may need more information but then doesnt tell me they need anything else from me!

I rang up to clarify this and the advisor said yes its suspended but only whilst they process my claim. They do not require any extra information from me at all.

I asked as i am due a payment a week on Monday will i get this? She said she didnt know and if i ring up on Thursday they will be able to tell me if a payment has been sent to me.

This isnt much help to me when i have £40 left untill i get paid at the end of the month to buy food etc for my family.

Why can they not carry on paying me as normal because nothing else has changed apart from my address?

Is this correct?

rogerblack

Housing benefit is paid on the basis of you having to pay rent at a specific address.

If you move, you are no longer entitled, and have to make a fresh claim.
If you have moved, and not reported it, you have likely been overpaid, and will need to repay the money you got in respect of the old property.

samwich1979

rogerblack wrote: »

Housing benefit is paid on the basis of you having to pay rent at a specific address.

If you move, you are no longer entitled, and have to make a fresh claim.
If you have moved, and not reported it, you have likely been overpaid, and will need to repay the money you got in respect of the old property.

I reported my house move a week later due to the days i work and council office opening times. They filled my form in whilst i was there and didnt tell me my claim would be suspended and that i should get my payment as normal.

There seems to be some discrepancies in advice between the One Stop Shop advisors and the people who actually deal with the claims which doesnt help me when im depending on that money.

I dont understand how i will have been overpaid when i will be getting EXACTLY the same amount for my new property. All that has changed is the fact my rent has risen by £45 a month, i will still get the LHA 2 bed rate minus deductions due to my wage.

Its so confusing, why can they not continue to pay me as mine is a straight forward change of address, if i owe a small amount then fine i'll pay it back.

CIS

I dont understand how i will have been overpaid when i will be getting EXACTLY the same amount for my new property. All that has changed is the fact my rent has risen by £45 a month, i will still get the LHA 2 bed rate minus deductions due to my wage.

The council don't know that though until they have processed the claim. Just because they have the paperwork doesn't mean that it has been processed.

samwich1979

CIS wrote: »

The council don't know that though until they have processed the claim. Just because they have the paperwork doesn't mean that it has been processed.

Well its says this on my local councils website page about change in circumstances claims:

We promise to prioritise your claim and aim to process it by the end of the next working day if you give us all of the relevant evidence and information we need at the time you make your claim.

I had my form filled in by a council advisor on Monday so should i not have had mine processed by now?
I understand they are busy but they said i didnt need to give any other evidence etc so its very straight forward.

They shouldnt quote the above if they cant stick to it.

CIS

The statement is that they 'aim' to process it - there can be a hundred and one reasons why they haven't yet. Have you actually contacted them to ask why ?

samwich1979

CIS wrote: »

The statement is that they 'aim' to process it - there can be a hundred and one reasons why they haven't yet. Have you actually contacted them to ask why ?

I rang this morning to ask what was happening and why my money was suspended.
The advisor wouldnt say anything apart from that if i ring back next Thursday they will tell me if a payment has been sent out or not.

I understand they "aim" to process by the next day and this isnt always possible but when only my address has changed and nothing else i cant see why this cant be done quickly, surely someone must have looked at it by now if they are quoting such statements on their website.

Murphybear

I suspect most Councils are overworked and understaffed and may have a problem in prioritising claims due to change of circumstances if they have a lot of them.

I have LHA and it was suspended due to misinformation from the DWP. We sorted it out but I had to wait ages to be paid. I wrote to them asking why they have a dual standard ie they suspend a claim in hours but if the suspension was incorrectly applied it take weeks to reinstate it. I got a 2 page letter full of waffle where they didn't actually answer the question but did say I had got paid before my rent due date. Technically this was incorrect because my rent was due on the Saturday and I got paid the following Monday!

To the OP I am a bit concerned that you are waiting for your HB to buy food. Surely it should be set aside until the rent is due?

samwich1979

Murphybear wrote: »

I suspect most Councils are overworked and understaffed and may have a problem in prioritising claims due to change of circumstances if they have a lot of them.

I have LHA and it was suspended due to misinformation from the DWP. We sorted it out but I had to wait ages to be paid. I wrote to them asking why they have a dual standard ie they suspend a claim in hours but if the suspension was incorrectly applied it take weeks to reinstate it. I got a 2 page letter full of waffle where they didn't actually answer the question but did say I had got paid before my rent due date. Technically this was incorrect because my rent was due on the Saturday and I got paid the following Monday!

To the OP I am a bit concerned that you are waiting for your HB to buy food. Surely it should be set aside until the rent is due?

I pay my rent on the first of each month out of MY wages, i then use the HB for any food, bills etc when i receive it every 2 weeks.

Naf

samwich1979 wrote: »

Well its says this on my local councils website page about change in circumstances claims:

We promise to prioritise your claim and aim to process it by the end of the next working day if you give us all of the relevant evidence and information we need at the time you make your claim.

I had my form filled in by a council advisor on Monday so should i not have had mine processed by now?
I understand they are busy but they said i didnt need to give any other evidence etc so its very straight forward.

They shouldnt quote the above if they cant stick to it.

My council advertises a 'claim today, benefit tomorrow; 24 hour promise' - but it's all lies.

Until someone looks at your paperwork, the council have no idea what your new benefit will be; all they know for sure is that you're no longer entitled to payment for your old claim at the previous address.
I had the same problem when I moved, but once it gets processed the dates all get sorted; any overpayment at the previous address will be swallowed up by underpayment at the current address and you'll receive exactly what you expect (assuming you're right about your actual benefit amount not changing); just maybe not exactly when you expect it.
If you're really struggling in the meantime, consider a crisis loan.

Murphybear

samwich1979 wrote: »

I pay my rent on the first of each month out of MY wages, i then use the HB for any food, bills etc when i receive it every 2 weeks.

Fair enough!