Good afternoon everyone, I wondered if anyone could possibly give me advice with a somewhat sticky situation? To make matters worse, the case was only passed on to me at the 11th hour! Apologies in advance for the length, please bear with me…

In May 2005, one of our general need tenants wrote to HB to advise she intended to move to one of supported schemes for more support because she was ‘getting on in years’ and was worried she wouldn’t be able to cope. The LA cancelled the claim from the date she provided, but for some unknown reason, the tenant didn’t move into the new supported property.

In January 2006, when no HB had been received and the arrears had reached £3,000.00, our arrears officer called the LA. They advised that the only correspondence they had was a letter from the tenant dated 6th October 2006 and a copy of the NOSP. The letter said “I would like my HB application, which was submitted last year to be considered”. When I called the LA, they said they filed the NOSP away because it was irrelevant; the claim had been cancelled since the May 2005. Regarding the letter, no action appears to have been taken on the letter because they have no notes reflecting an action, in other words, it appears to still be outstanding.

In October 2006 the case went to court and got possession. Throughout the period of seeking possession no one had actually visited her in person so no concerns were raised. However, when we went for eviction, the manager signing it off said that a visit was needed. During the visits (and this is what makes the situation delicate) the housing manager noticed the tenant showed signs that there may be mental health issues (only prepared to discuss matters in public places, her conversation wanders and at times her conversation doesn't make any sense). It seems she has periods when she is ok and then times when she isn’t and it’s difficult to know when and why).

Because her housing manager is not qualified in identifying mental health issues, he has written to the following - the GP (who is yet to respond), external support agencies and an internal support team (who specifically support tenants with mental health issues). The latter two both said they are unable to help her because she has not undergone an assessment - fair enough, but without the GP responding, we are unable to help her in this area.

Anyway, my plan of action is to request the tenant sign an authorisation form to allow us to deal with past and current HB claims, request a backdating request pointing out:

1) Despite informing HB that she intended to move, she didn’t so the notification should be ignored (thin, I know).

2) They failed to action the tenant’s January 2006 letter (with NOSP), if they had, they would have realised the tenant had not moved and it would have been within 52 weeks.

3) The fact that the tenant wrote to them in October 2007, chasing her claim and confirnming she received a claim form at the address

With the hope that she will sign the authorisation form (it depends on her behaviour on the day), I can then add to the backdating request about us contacting external and internal support offices regarding her potential vulnerability without a successful outcome and hope they decide to backdate.

I do believe that early intervention of HB advice could have avoided a lot, if not all arrears and hope it isn't too late. The arrears nearing £9,000.00, so any advice on how else to proceed will be much appreciated, once again sorry for the 'every details under the sun' version!

Can't you argue that HB had no grounds to supersede the original benefit award decision as they had not established as a fact that she had actually moved. As they only had notification that she intended to move it was incumbent on them to make enquiries, when the date came, that she had actually moved? The fact that she had not moved means that they had no ground to stop her benefit.

Ask for the decision stopping benefit to be revised under reg 4(2)(i) of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001 - the decision arose from official error.

What do you think Kevin?

Firstly, I think quite a lot might initially depend upon the wording of your client’s letter to the LA in question. If the letter said something along the lines of “I will be moving on ……….etc” then I don’t see an argument for LA error on this point, if, however, the letter said something like “I am thinking of moving…etc” then there may be an argument that the LA had no basis for supercession without further confirmation.

Another point is that a change of address is just a change of circumstances and unless the letter said something along the lines of “I no longer wish to claim benefit” or specifically identified accommodation that the claimant would be moving to which the LA would know prevented her from receiving benefit in their area, then the LA should have asked her to provide details of the rent at the new address so that entitlement at that address could be calculated. If they failed to do this then again they will have no basis for the supercession decision they made.

When the LA ended the claim in May 05 they would have to send a decision letter giving rights of appeal to the claimant. If they did not do this then they will need to correct that error and give your client fresh rights of appeal. Ask to see a copy of the letter.

There may also be some mileage in the LAs lack of response to your claimant’s letter to the LA including the NOSP. I am not wholly clear of the date from your posting but I think this was in October 05. As I am not certain of the legal basis of such a letter in the regs being neither a request for a statement of reasons, an appeal or a claim then the best way of addressing that issue would be through the Ombudsman. The LA will very probably have an internal procedure that letters from customers should be answered within certain time limits and you could argue that the LA did not keep to their own rules resulting in maladministration and injustice.

Her 1st letter which said "I intend to move out..) was in May 2005.
Her chase up letter (submitted with the NOSP) which said “I would like my HB application, which was submitted last year to be considered” was dated January 2006. HB filed the Jan 2006 correspondence away.

But even if the LA did not keep to their own rules resulting in maladministration, the client still left it to October 2007 to chase her claim (1 year and 9 months). Won't they use that against her?

Use what against her? The fact that they failed to make a determination on an application properly made? Can't see how that gets the LA any further at all....

Hi Jill,

We discussed this case the other day, and I think the contibutors to this thread raise some grounds for optomism. If you could get permission from the tenant for you to act for her, you could get a copy of her original letter. The wording will indeed be important. If its an unambiguous 'I want to withdraw my HB claim', that is then linked to a prospective move (albeit one that did not happen), I do not think we can fault the LA for withdrawing the HB. If so, I am pessimistic about rescuing HB arrears.

I hope you can persude the person to allow you to act, because only then can her apparent vulnerability be involved into the argument, and you may even be able to argue the original letter had no status at all, and that the HB award should have continued. This is the kind of case when there is detriment, but neither the claimant nor the LA may be at fault.

If the HB arrears cannot be rescued, maybe the landlord should be writing the debt off, because of the claimants vulnerability. If evicted, what would happen to her? Would there be an intentionality issue if she presented as homeless?

Steve Johnson