Making an Appeal
There are various rules and regulations, which tell us how to work out your benefit, how to pay your benefit and how many overpayment of benefit should be recovered.
You have the right to:
- Know how we have calculated your benefit
- Ask for an explanation of the decision we have made
- Ask us to look at your claim again
- Challenge any decision we have made
- Ask for an independent appeal tribunal to look at your case
We want to make sure that you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. But we may have overlooked something, you may have completed your application form incorrectly or maybe we have simply made a mistake.
If you are not happy with the way your benefit has been calculated we want to hear from you so that we can put it right.
The Appeals Process
Please note that some decisions do not carry the right to appeal. If you want more information about our decision you must contact us straight away, because you have one month from the date of the decision letter to ask us to look at your claim again, or to appeal against it. You can also ask for a written statement of reasons for the decision.
This sets out:
- The information we have used to make our decision
- How you benefit has been calculated
- The way any overpayment has been calculated (if applicable)
- The relevant Housing Benefit regulations which apply to your case and the reason why they do/do not apply Council Tax Reduction (There is a different process for Council Tax
- Reduction reviews, and details can be found here
If you want us to look at the decision again
If you want us to look at the decision again, we will check if the decision is correct. If the decision is wrong, we will change it. If the decision cannot be changed we will write and inform you. In either case, if you appeal, the one month time limit starts again.
If you want to appeal against the decision you must let us know within one month of receiving your initial decision letter, (or, if you asked us to look at the decision again, one month from that decision).
You must write down the reasons for your appeal and make sure that you sign it. If our decision is wrong we will change it. If the decision cannot be changed we will write and inform you. The appeals service will then look at your appeal at a tribunal hearing. This tribunal is independent from the Council and is made up of legally qualified people trained in Housing Benefit.
If your appeal is late you must include an explanation of why you could not appeal within one month.
You can use the Appeals form if you:
- Want to ask for a statement of reasons
- Want us to look at our decision again
- Want to appeal to an independent tribunal