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HB - adverse inference, end of entitlement - what duty does LA have to reconsider?
Hello
Customer had son turn 18 end of August - we wrote in September , dad replied saying son was starting Uni in a few weeks and would provide student cert
Oct - we write out asking for student cert
November - we have no reply so apply an adverse inference an whack a max non dep charge on for non dep from his 18th birthday . This ends HB entitlement and creates an overpayment
2 weeks later, customer asks for a recon and provides his sons student cert from Uni.
LA have applied underlying entitlement to the overpayment, but haven’t revised the November decision
I ** thought** that where we had made an adverse inference ( which means we’ve made a decision in absence of a material fact) if the missing info was provided within a month of that decision we HAD to reconsider the decision with the missing info so see if changes the outcome of the decision.
LA are saying no, - the decision to apply the high charge was procedurally correct and no duty to do anything other than look at u/ent, as the missing info (student cert) was provided after entitlement had ended. regs say we MAY revise but dont have to
Im saying the entitlement ended due to an adverse inference which was applied on 16 Nov and the missing info was provided within a month of it, so we should put the actual circs in for the period we applied the adverse inference -
I would have reopened the claim as the decision which ended HB wasn’t factually correct.
LA say thats very generous of me, but there is no legal requirement to do that.
Is the LA right?
Thanks