What if I am not happy with the decision made about my benefit award?
Decision Making and Appeals
I am not happy with the decision made about my benefit award.
What can I do?
If you are unhappy with a decision made on your claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you have three options available to you:
OPTION 1 -You can ask us to explain the decision or provide a written statement of reasons for it.
You must do this straight away because if you decide you want us to look at the decision again or if you want to appeal against it, you must do so within one month on the date on the decision letter, not the date you contact us.
If you still disagree with the decision after we have explained it, you can ask us to look at it again (see OPTION 2) or you can appeal against the decision (see OPTION 3).
If you asked for a written statements of reasons, the one month you have to ask us to look at the decision again, or to appeal against it, will be extended by the time we took to send the statement of reasons.
OPTION 2 - You can ask us to look at the decision again
If you want us to look at the decision again, you must ask us to do this within one month of the date of the decision letter. We will check that the decision is correct and if it is wrong we will change it.
If there are special circumstances, which mean you cannot contact us within one month, we may still be able to change the decision. Tell us what the special circumstances are when you contact us.
If you ask us to look at a decision again, more than one month after the date of the decision letter and you do not have special circumstances, we may still be able to change the decision, but this will usually be from the Monday after you wrote to us.
If you are unhappy with this decision you can ask us to look at it again.
If the decision cannot be changed we will send you a letter telling you that we cannot change it and confirming the decision that was made. The letter will also tell you if you can appeal against the decision.
OPTION 3 - You can appeal against the decision
If you are still unhappy with the decision after we have explained it and confirmed that you can appeal against it, you can make an appeal to an independent tribunal called the Appeals Service.
To do this you must complete an Appeal Form, writing down the reasons why you want to appeal.
You must send this Appeal Form back to the Benefit Section within one month from the date of the decision letter. The Appeal Service can only accept late appeals if there are special circumstances that caused the delay. These could be a death in the family, a serious illness, absence abroad, a postal strike or some other special circumstance.
If you do appeal after the time that is allowed you must include an explanation why you could not appeal within one month on the Appeal Form. A tribunal member will decide whether a late appeal can be accepted. No appeal can be accepted if you appeal 13 months or more after the date on the decision letter.
After you have submitted your Appeal Form we will provide you with an explanation of our decision and look at the decision again. If the original decision is wrong and the new one would be to your advantage we will send you a new decision and your appeal will stop. If you do not agree with the new decision you may appeal against it.
If the new decision is not to your advantage we will send you a new one and your appeal will continue against the new decision. You will have another month to comment on the new decision.
If we do not change the decision we will send your appeal to the Appeals Service. We will also send you a copy of the appeals papers and a form you must complete.
If this form is not sent to the Appeals Service within 14 days from the date the form was sent to you, your appeal will stop. The form asks you questions about how you want your appeal to be looked at (either an oral hearing which you can go to and the tribunal may ask you questions, or a paper hearing where you do not have to go and the tribunal will be carried out with papers that have been submitted as part of your appeal).
After the hearing you will be given a decision notice explaining the tribunals decision as soon as possible. A copy will also be sent to us. If your appeal is successful, we will usually put the decision right as soon as we receive our copy of the tribunal's decision.
If you do not agree with the appeal tribunal's decision you may be able to appeal to the Social Security Commissioners. Your decision letter from the Tribunals Service will tell you what to do if you are unhappy with the decision.
Further Advice & Information
If you need further advice or information, please contact South Shropshire District Council, Benefit Section, Stone House, Corve Street, Ludlow, SY8 1DG.
You can telephone us on 01584 813150 or 01584 813151 or come to our enquiry counter at the above address (you don't need an appointment) we are open from 8.40am to 5.15pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9.30am to 5.15pm on Tuesday and 8.40am to 4.30pm on a Friday.
Or you can e-mail us at benefits@southshropshire.gov.uk.
This Information is also available in large print, Braille and audio cassette on request.
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Subscribe to changes to this page here.Author: Reception Services. Last Updated: 4/10/2006.
