A client and his wife had their request to backdate council tax benefit backdated rejected by the hb/ct dept October 2005.

I will outline the circumstances.

In march 2005, he completed a hb/ctb form and he was asked for his passport as a form of identification. He could not provide this as the inalnd revenue had his passport who returned it in June 2005 but the client was able to provide his details to the hb/ct office until september because his wife was very ill up to August 2005 and inj August his son had regular visits to hospital due to asthma attacks. The client could not provide his details from June 2005 because of his poor english and had to wait until september when his wife was well enough to visit the ct/hb office to provide passport and other details.

The ct/hb office rejected their request for backdate due to fact that cleint had made previous claim before they moved home in February 2005
and therefore he should have been aware of benefit rules.

Do you think he can win appeal and on what grounds? Please provide caselaw if poss

Jeff Community Links

Can you provide more info to help with a response?

When was the first claim made?

When was the second claim made (if such a claim was made)?

When was backdating claim made (and the date b'dating was asked from / to)?

What, if any, letters/notifications did the LA send to the clmt about the first claim? For example, did the LA send a letter saying a decision had been made on the "first" claim, but due to insufficient evidence, no award had been made? Were appeal rights given?

If notifications were sent, when?

If no "second" claim was made, what date did the LA award benefit from?


All of the above matters, because it is *possible* that backdating need not be considered - it may be that a decision still needs to be made on the "first" claim.

Regards