Bedroom tax appeal

shedboy94

hunters wrote: »

How come a Housing Benefit Officer has time to post on here when you should be working turning down all these peoples' appeals? What area/council do you actually work for?

What a stupid comment. Do housing Benefit officers not have days off? Do they not get holidays? Are they not allowed breaks in which to post in their own time? You are assuming it is being done when he/she should be working.

daimonde

Originally Posted by hunters
How come a Housing Benefit Officer has time to post on here when you should be working turning down all these peoples' appeals? What area/council do you actually work for?

shedboy94 wrote: »

What a stupid comment. Do housing Benefit officers not have days off? Do they not get holidays? Are they not allowed breaks in which to post in their own time? You are assuming it is being done when he/she should be working.

nice to see some support

im sat here on my lunch break seeing if theres anything i can answer quickly. people like CIS & fluffy give up a lot of their own time giving advice on here, you do kinda wonder why when you have posts like Hunters.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

shedboy94 wrote: »

What a stupid comment. Do housing Benefit officers not have days off? Do they not get holidays? Are they not allowed breaks in which to post in their own time? You are assuming it is being done when he/she should be working.

I think my IT Department would notice if I was posting on forums during work time - my manager gets printouts once a month of any untoward internet activity and disciplinary action follows

chipstick67

if it states on your tenancy agreement that its a ONE bedroom property then surly that's what it is ?

Gazzanoo

I have looked at relocating but as my local council only have four 1 bedroom properties within 20miles of where we are and my wife would find it extremely upsetting if not dangerous to move i have no alternative but to stay but not without a fight. By the way i have worked full time for over 35 years and so did my wife even when we had to pay out 60% of my wifes income in child care charges. We only moved into social housing because i had to give up work to look after her and couldn't afford to live where we were. On a side note my wife was told to go on a fitness for work interview whilst she is hospitalised, she couldn't go so i informed them and last week i got a phone call saying that unless she attends our benefits maybe suspended. The stress of that phone call put her back in hospital. I am registered as her personal representative for contact with DWP, DLA and IRC.She is wheel chair bound, needs 24/7 care from myself, has mental disabilities and is suffering from organ failure, she can lick a stamp though. I am also paying my bedroom tax but will fight for the rest of my life or hers. This country is not just and fair anymore it is reverting back into a country run by the rich and wealthy without a care for the genuine needy.

365days

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

I think my IT Department would notice if I was posting on forums during work time - my manager gets printouts once a month of any untoward internet activity and disciplinary action follows

To be honest I thought it would have been a very good use of some of your paid time to offer instant advice on a forum anyway. This taxpayer certainly wouldn't of minded.

tigerlily

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

I think my IT Department would notice if I was posting on forums during work time - my manager gets printouts once a month of any untoward internet activity and disciplinary action follows

ours do aswell, would never be posting on a forum while at work.......far too busy doing the work. Every day breaks worked through and a sandwich at my desk for lunch while still working, quite regularly doing days from 8:30am to 7pm. This forum makes me wonder why the hell we try so hard when all we seem to get back in places such as this is vitriol! We dont make the rules we are only the ones that have to impliment them!!

cattermole

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Good luck if he really has won an appeal on this!

Guidance on carers states an extra room for an overnight carer is only allowed of the carer isn't a partner. I am aware there are challenges against this on disability discrimination grounds. Even where rooms are used to store medical equipment we have to treat it as a spare bedroom.

I have had numerous appeals where couples genuinely can't sleep in the same bedroom due to the nature and complexities of the illness or disability but legislation states we can't allow the extra bedroom. Unless the Government decides to change the legislation Local Authorities hands are tied. Every case has been awarded Discretionary Housing Payments to 31st March 2014 though.

The DWP audit Local Authorities and their decisions and if they have incorrectly paid benefit due to misinterpretation, either accidentally or deliberately, of the legislation then that Local Authority loses subsidy. For every £1 Housing Benefit paid the authority gets £1 subsidy back - if they lose subsidy it costs the Local Authority money.

If a Local Authority treats a partner as a carer needing their own bedroom in contradiction of the legislation and the DWP Auditors discover it then the local authority could lose a whopping chunk of subsidy.

Any more news on this HBO?

I was a bit mystified reading this post because winning at Appeal at first stage wouldn't mean they didn't have to pay it. The LA would have to counter appeal for the reasons you give above, and would normally pay the DHP in the meantime but depending on the pot this couldn't be guaranteed.

Although ultimately it's highly unlikely the DWP will win, given the rulings so far at first stage and based on the Burnip & Co. case. and them backing down from the Supreme Court.

They are just wasting tax payers money contesting it really and putting more pressure on the DHP budget for all the Councils, in turn causing them more work.

Anyone got a date for Upper tribunal yet you have heard of?

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/legal/dwp-issues-urgent-bulletin-about-bedroom-tax-tribunal-decisions/6529316.article

And in some cases it's almost anarchy by LA's

iluvmarmite

It's a tribunal that has the final say as to wether an appeal is turned down or not, not a housing benefit officer. As for the room size, this has now been challenged and won in a high court so nearly all those appealing on room size are winning due to it being passed by a high court judge, if a room is 50sq feet or under it cannot be classed as a usable bedroom, also there was a ruling that a bedroom is only a bedroom if used to sleeping purposes, so if some is using a small bedroom as an office for example and it doesn't actualy contain a bed, then it is not classed as a bedroom. If anyone would like to see the high court ruling on this I will provide the link. It's things like this that will bring the spare room subsidy to a stop because it's just not working and it's costing more money to implement than they say it saves.

cattermole

She is referring to the first appeal which is to the Council and is decided by an HBO, you cannot go to the Tribunal Appeal until you have appealed to the Council first.

Yes please to link on room sizes and Judicial review.