my client is a tenant under the pre 1996 rules for private rented HB rules.

In June 03 she had a rent increase of £2.00 this was paid in full.

In june 04 she has had another increase of £2.00 the council are refusing to pay this. The reason they are stating is it was last referred to the Rent Officer in April 04 and they can't refer it again for 12 months.

Is this correct?

Well it may be correct about the rent officer referral, but if it is pre-1996 case then they can and should consider the rent increase, as they presumably did in June of last year, when presumably they could not have done a rent officer referral either.

Before 1996, the Rent Officer's decision on the eligible rent determined how much government subsidy the council would receive on the benefit paid, and it was something that the Council could "have regard to" when setting the eligible rent. But the Council remained free to set its own eligible rent figure.