I am currently receiving housing benefit as part of an income support
claim i had previously...my income support stopped late january of this
year and i have just found out i must inform the housing office of my
change in circumstance(Even though i am currently receiving no income)

My question is when i inform the housing and they close the existing
claim and make me re-claim will i be allowed to backdate to the period
my existing claim should of ended?Thus virtually being a seamless
claim(at least financially)Or will they make me pay back the money paid
to me since january and then start my fresh claim when they receive it?

Any help would be appreciated

>I am currently receiving housing benefit as part of an income support
> claim i had previously...my income support stopped late january of this
> year and i have just found out i must inform the housing office of my
> change in circumstance(Even though i am currently receiving no income)
>
> My question is when i inform the housing and they close the existing
> claim and make me re-claim will i be allowed to backdate to the period
> my existing claim should of ended?Thus virtually being a seamless
> claim(at least financially)Or will they make me pay back the money paid
> to me since january and then start my fresh claim when they receive it?
>
> Any help would be appreciated
>


Doubt they will ask you to repay it (unless they do have a genuine reason to 
request you to repay it - you won lottery say or you were working).  Just 
make a fresh claim for a change in circumstances, and they should just carry 
on paying - and it gives the people in the housing benefit department 
something to do with their spare time.

craggy wrote:

> I am currently receiving housing benefit as part of an income support
> claim i had previously...my income support stopped late january of
this
> year and i have just found out i must inform the housing office of my
> change in circumstance(Even though i am currently receiving no
income)
>
> My question is when i inform the housing and they close the existing
> claim and make me re-claim will i be allowed to backdate to the
period
> my existing claim should of ended?Thus virtually being a seamless
> claim(at least financially)Or will they make me pay back the money
paid
> to me since january and then start my fresh claim when they receive
it?
>
> Any help would be appreciated


Yes , you will be required to pay back any HB from January onwards.
This is because your IS has ceased and you should have informed your
council of this as it states on the application form and/or declaration
you signed when you made your initial claim. You are not entitled to
your current HB award as it is based on you being in receipt of Income
Support.

Your council can not "make" you  reclaim, they can invite you to
reclaim. If you do you will need to request that your new claim is
backdated to the end date of your old claim and give your reasons why
you did not tell them in January that your IS stopped. Please use a
better reason than " I didn't know" it ,will get you further :-) Also
request underlying entitlement. They will work out what benefit you
have had against what you should  have had. This can be offset against
the overpayment to reduce it.

You say that your IS has ceased and that you have no income, so what
are you living off and why did they stop your IS ?

Any further questions feel free to post back in the group.

I have nothing to live off at present - They stopped my income support
due to having 11k some 18 months prior since those 18 months i have
less than the 3k but they stopped it stating i had it even though i
have explained i have'nt.

The daft thing is on tuesday i will go to the housing and inform them i
am no longer on income support but on thursday i see a personal advisor
at the dwp to claim again for IS to which i will have to claim again
for HB with my new circumstances(the claim for income support) If the
claim for IS fails i'd assume i'd have to re-claim HB and then if i
re-claimed IS again i'd have to repeat the same thing over and over
again.

Stop starting a claim with the housing if not normally a good idea i
would think seen as they take around 2-3 months for a standard claim!!

Also do you know what form is best to fill out?.....i had filled out
the rapid re-claim form as its within the 12 weeks...and put the change
of circumstance on a seperate piece of paper...or would it be best to
complete a full form?

"craggy"  wrote in message news:...

> I am currently receiving housing benefit as part of an income support
> claim i had previously...my income support stopped late january of this
> year and i have just found out i must inform the housing office of my
> change in circumstance(Even though i am currently receiving no income)
> 

Just found out? - Don't you recall reading and signing a declaration
that you would report the end of your IS or face possible prosecution?

You must have done this or they would not have paid any HB for you.


> My question is when i inform the housing and they close the existing
> claim and make me re-claim will i be allowed to backdate to the period
> my existing claim should of ended?Thus virtually being a seamless
> claim(at least financially)Or will they make me pay back the money paid
> to me since january and then start my fresh claim when they receive it?
> 

Since April 2004 this change is treated as a change in curcumstances,
rather than an automatic end to your HB.
Fill out a new application form and ask for your benefit to be
backdated to the end of your IS. Provide a written statement that you
have had nil-income, and 8 weeks statements for all bank and savings
accounts that you hold. You had better explain why and how you have
been living on nil-income.
Any overpaid benefit will be offset against your entitlement, meaning
you wont have to give it back as your entitlement should be the same
as before.
The tricky part might be backdated bit - under the new regs this might
not matter - they will pay you continously as long as you tell them of
the change before the DWP do - in that case you could conceivably have
a gap.
If this seems complicated, it is.

craggy wrote:

> I have nothing to live off at present - They stopped my income
support
> due to having 11k some 18 months prior since those 18 months i have
> less than the 3k but they stopped it stating i had it even though i
> have explained i have'nt.
>

Appeal. Also make sure you prove to the HB dept that you don't have the
money (and why you got rid of it if you ever did), or they wont offset
all of your overpayment.


> The daft thing is on tuesday i will go to the housing and inform them
i
> am no longer on income support but on thursday i see a personal
advisor
> at the dwp to claim again for IS to which i will have to claim again
> for HB with my new circumstances(the claim for income support) If the
> claim for IS fails i'd assume i'd have to re-claim HB and then if i
> re-claimed IS again i'd have to repeat the same thing over and over
> again.
>

No - as long as you have made a claim with the HB dept (do *NOT* rely
on the DWP to pass the form they give to you on to your council), you
will be ok.
If you have a live HB claim based on no IS you just need to tell them
IS has been awarded - you wont need to claim again in this case.


> Stop starting a claim with the housing if not normally a good idea i
> would think seen as they take around 2-3 months for a standard

claim!!

I quite agree. The new regs are intended to fix some of the old
problems with gaps in HB, however, the new regs are a bit crappily
drafted, to say the least.

On a side note, I hate the new Googlegroups interface, can't wait till
my usual  server is working again - sorry if my contributions seem
messy today.

craggy wrote:

> Also do you know what form is best to fill out?.....i had filled out
> the rapid re-claim form as its within the 12 weeks...and put the
change
> of circumstance on a seperate piece of paper...or would it be best to
> complete a full form?


The best form in all cases is the local council's own form - the big
one if they don't have a reduced change of circs form. - Give it in to
them, never the DWP.

The DWP forms, including the rapid reclaim one are great in theory, but
so many get lost on the way to the councils that it just isn't funny.

Never *ever* rely on a DWP form to claim HB or CTB.

Yes i have appealed to the dwp...They lost the original appeal along
with all the documents...so i had to give them my photocopied appeal
form(was a good job i did!!)still awaiting decision - told it takes
around 10 -12 weeks.

Yes i'll do the big form to the HB and do a seperate piece of paper
explaining the other facts......

anthonyberet wrote.......

Just found out? - Don't you recall reading and signing a declaration
that you would report the end of your IS or face possible prosecution?

You must have done this or they would not have paid any HB for you.


Yes...i know what what your saying ....on the form i think it says
something along the lines of 'You must inform the HB of any change
which may effect your enititlement to HB'

I would imagine with an income of nil i would still be entitled to
it....as i would have had no reason not to tell them if i'd have
known...i,e It was'nt to try and de-fraud the HB

Also i believed the Dwp would have informed them of the stopping of my
IS and the HB then continued to pay and i would have been still
entitled to HB.

In future i'll know better!!


Thanks for all your help so far....Its such a complicated system.

In the Extra Info section of the HB claim form 
, anthonyberet 
 writes


>If this seems complicated, it is.


It's all much simpler if people notify changes like they promise to.
Simpler for them, simpler for us!

-- 
Sue @ Darkside Borough Council

Yes Sue i agree although some people do make genuine mistakes including
the council!!Wish they would'nt - Simpler for them, simpler for us!

I have now given a new claim form to the council with all the relevent
details informed on this thread - Spoke to a nice lady who said it
should'nt be to much of a problem as i gave a good explanation of the
facts - Only problem is she said claims are taking up to 16 weeks to
process at present....not good when you have no income from any source!

In the Extra Info section of the HB claim form 
, craggy 
 writes

>Yes Sue i agree although some people do make genuine mistakes including
>the council!!Wish they would'nt - Simpler for them, simpler for us!
>
>I have now given a new claim form to the council with all the relevent
>details informed on this thread - Spoke to a nice lady who said it
>should'nt be to much of a problem as i gave a good explanation of the
>facts - Only problem is she said claims are taking up to 16 weeks to
>process at present....not good when you have no income from any source!
>


I'm sorry, that's not what the DWP are telling us - they say they're 
pleased to find claims take 36 days, and they're the Government so they 
must be right [1]

NB this is 36 working days, ie 7 weeks or a bit more at this time of 
year with all the bank holidays.

[1] Or else some of us are lying to the DWP when we send our stats in. 
The Benefits Manager at Darkside insists on sending form STATS124 in 
herself, and won't let me do it although it's part of my job.  The main 
effect of this is that it doesn't get sent in at all [2] but I have my 
doubts about any stats we do produce.

[2] The staff say nothing they leave with the Benefits Manager ever gets 
done.   Letters from the DWP asking why they haven't had our stats come 
to me.  The Benefits Manager knows what I think but never gets round to 
having another go at sacking me.

-- 
Sue @ Darkside Borough Council