What is a Housing Benefit or Council Tax support appeal?
When you make a claim for Housing Benefit or Council Tax support, we make our decision after:
- considering all the facts and evidence that you provide and
- taking into account the benefit legislation.
We will send you a decision letter to let you know how much your entitlement is and what information and figures we have used to make our calculation.
How do I make an appeal?
We always aim to make the right decision, but if you disagree or would like us to reconsider our decision, you can request this, in writing, within one calendar month of the date of our decision.
You should post any request for a re-consideration or a request for an appeal to:
Benefit Services
Pathfinder House
St Mary’s Street
Huntingdon
PE29 3TN
You can also email your request to benefit@huntingdonshire.gov.uk
What happens next?
Our Appeals Officer, who has had no part in the original decision-making process, will look again at all the facts about your benefit claim to make sure the decision was made correctly.
If the Officer decides the decision was wrong, then it will be changed. This could be from the date the first decision took effect, or from an earlier or later date. Whatever part of your claim is changed, you will be told in writing what we have done and why.
What if the decision is not changed?
If the Appeals Officer cannot change the decision, then we will tell you in writing. If you still disagree with the Housing Benefit decision you can make an appeal by writing to us at the address above. Your appeal will be dealt with by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, who are completely independent of the council.
The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals about Council Tax support decisions and you should write directly to them if you still disagree with our decision. You can find out more about these rules on the Council Tax support page.