If you are unhappy about a decision that is made about your claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you can either ask us to look at it again or appeal against it.
Any request must be made in writing and sent to us within one month of the date that you receive your decision.
You may appeal our decision if you are one of the following:
- The person claiming the benefit
- A landlord who receives direct payment of rent
- Someone who is dealing with a claim on behalf of someone who is unable to do so themselves
- Someone that the council has appointed to act for the claimant
- Someone that the council is planning on taking the overpayment from
If you just require further information about our decision, you can request a written statement of reasons of how we have arrived at it. If you disagree with our decision after this you have a further month to either:
- Ask us to look at it again; or
- Appeal against the decision
If you ask us to look at our decision again and we do not change our decision, you can appeal to an independent tribunal, our letter will advise you of your appeal rights. If however, we reconsider our decision we will notify you of this and you are given new appeal rights, incase you are still unhappy with this decision.
If you want to appeal to an independent tribunal, we will prepare the case and send this to the tribunal and we will also issue you with paperwork to complete and return to them. You may seek advice from a Welfare Rights Officer or a Solicitor at any point.
