Does anyone have a copy of HB/CTB A16/1999?

My local authority is relying on this circular and A2/1999 to back up their decision that my client is ineligible for housing benefit for a period when she was living with her husband, husband having no recourse to public funds.

I thought that she could still be eligible in her own right (on income support) and that her husband was not taken into consideration. However the local authority say that as husband failed to keep 2 appointments with the immigration service and was initially declined a national insurance number they were unable to pay 'his claim'. A national insurance number was granted 2 months later. Although I've requested a copy of our client's original renewal form I've not receieved a copy. However my client is sure that she made the renewal application and just added her husband's details under change of circumstances.

I'd also be grateful for any guidance!

I am not sure if this will be any help, but you can e-mail this guy at the dwp for backdated circulars?

Tony.Oldman@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

Emailed them both from our CD_Rom.

Not too sure of your question here... was HB paid and then 'cancelled' creating an overpayment of HB, or was HB just never paid?

The reason this matters is that if HB was paid, I think it would be unlikely that the claimant could have known they were being overpaid HB at the time the overpayment occurred, and you could argue that point, (how can a benefit claimant realise that a lack of a NINo. Dis-entitles them to HB, if the LA are themselves not aware), and this should render the overpayment non-recoverable, (any overpayment clearly being official error).

If HB has not been paid, then the LA may be in breach of the letter of S. (1B) (b) of the SSAA '92. That section (well all of (1B)), allows entitlement so long as an application has been made, and is then successful, it does not say that the NINo. must be allocated as soon as the application is made, (besides which, getting the interview for a NINo. can be a nightmare in-itself).

As to the LA's arguments, you should have a read of para's 20 - 24 of CH/3853/2001 which puts the use of circulars' in their place...

Circulars carry no weight... para 20 reads..."However, they are not, and do not purport to be, binding on local authorities. The appeal tribunal had to apply the law. So did the local authority. Neither was bound by anything in the Circulars.

Well it would be more accurate for the LA to say that they are relying on on Section 19 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997. This requires NI numbers from claimants and their partners.

I too am unclear as to what happened after the NI number was granted and what your question is.

Just sounds like riubbish to me.

see the following in A16/99

Q4:Where a claimant does not know their NINO or does not have one, will they have to wait until one is traced or issued before they can be awarded HB or CTB?

A4: No. This would penalise claimants whose BA office was unable to respond quickly to a request for action to trace or allocate a NINO. It would also penalise vulnerable groups such as asylum-seekers who are unlikely to have a NINO. Section 19 is satisfied at the point at which a claimant provides sufficient information or evidence to establish their identity. However, if they do not have a NINO they will still have to apply for one.

Q5: What will happen If the BA refuses to allocate a NINO to a particular claimant?

A5: This will only happen if serious doubts arise at their interview about the legitimacy of the claim. If a NINO is refused the BA will give the reason when they complete and return form DCI 1LA. You should refuse the claim and, if HB/CTB has been paid in the meantime, pursue a fraudulent overpayment. ('NB: individuals whose travel documents are marked "no recourse to public funds" are automatically excluded from most benefits. It is possible that the BA may refuse a NINO for such claimants in the mistaken belief that there is no entitlement to HB/CTB. We are working with the BA to try to ensure that this problem does not arise.)

A problem in many LA's is that they mistakenly exclude "no recourse" partners from the calculation of household as would happen in IS and JSA. There is no such provision in HB and the "person from abroard" should be included when calculating the Applicable amount and household income.

Sorry to contradict you, but unfortunately, it would not be more accurate to say that this is a S.19 matter. S.19 'requirements' are often misquoted as just that, a S.19 requirement. However, S.19 amended S.1 of the SSAA '92 and that is where the requirement to provide the NINo. is found.

I would therefore continue to refer to S.1 (1B), not S.19 (see page 22 & 23 of 15th ed. HB/CTB for actual requirements/wording).

Sorry to be 'picky' but when quoting law, it is better to get it right, otherwise you might end up sounding like 'Rimmer from Red Dwarf', and quoting sections of things that deal with parking allocation, rather than the matter a hand, (sorry if this makes me somewhat of an 'anorak' too)...

Sorry, I seem to have created some confusion over the question. The client is female, a UK national and has a tenancy in her sole name. Husband, with no recourse to public funds, moved in Dec 02. On client's HB renewal application in dec 02 she noted change of circumstances and reported marriage, husband's immigration status and the fact he was waiting for a NINO. March 03 renewal HB claim rejected as husband declined NINO due to non attendance at 2 immigration interviews. He then rectified this and NINO granted in April 03.

I thought client had an independant right to HB and that although husband's income and capital could be taken into consideration he was otherwise disregarded for the purposes of the HB claim. So question really is client entitled to HB Dec 02 to March 03 even though husband was initially declined a NINO? Is she entitled in her own right?

I was thinking of applying for any anytime revision if there was no official error. On the basis that the client did not have knowledge of husband's failure to attend 2 interviews and that he subsequently complied with immigration requirements and shortly after was allocated a NINO. Help?!

Thanks for clearing that up...

You should refer to Julian's posting above, he is correct.

There is no provision in the HB/CTB regs to 'split' a claimant and partner, even where the claimant has recourse to public funds, and the partner does not. This is different to almost all other state benefits, where the partner is simply 'stripped out' of the assessment (though their income etc. is included). The Partner MUST therefore be included both in aggregation of income/capital, and for applicable amount purposes.

The D.W.P. are actually REQUIRED to allocate a NINo. to the partners' of UK nationals (well all nationals, so long as they have recourse to U.K. public funds), where that NINo. is being allocated for the purposes of S.1 of the SSAA '92. An amendment was made to the D.S.S. DMG (Decision makers Guide), in 1997 that informed the D.S.S. staff, (now D.W.P.) that they HAD to allocate a NINo. where that NINo. was needed as the P.F.A. concerned, was the partner of a HB claimant, and the NI NO. was needed solely to process the HB claim.

I do not have the D.M.G. memo to hand, but will look for it later, (it's been a long time since I needed to rely on it), but most D.W.P. NINo. allocation officers' are aware of it.

Your LA is on to a loser, for this reason (oh, and all the others listed above)...

A copy of the memo would be gratefully received, although I will have a look here too.

A big thank you to everyone for all of your input.

This is a copy of the the memo issued by the D.W.P. (previously D.S.S.) regarding the allocation of NI No.s to the partners of HB claimants, (it was not a DMG memo, and was issued in 99, not 97, my mistake... sorry for any confusion, but it has the same effect as far as the D.W.P. officers' are concerned). But sorry if I led you on a wild goose chase, so it is reporoduced in full below by way of further apology... para 9 is where you need to direct the D.W.P. in case of problems...


Multi-Benefit Bulletin 74/99
Date Friday, 27 August 1999
Action Retain
Make changes by Not Applicable
Contact Craig Denby, BMB (PAS), Tel 01772 254741 or John
MacLean Tel 01772 254563
IMPLEMENTATION OF S19 FOR HOUSING BENEFIT AND COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT (HB/CTB)
The 23 day rule does not apply to this bulletin as it is for information purposes only.
Introduction
1 As a result of the implementation of section 19 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997, entitlement to Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) will be conditional on a customer providing sufficient information to enable a National Insurance number to be traced, confirmed or allocated for both the customer and their partner.
2 The change has been piloted since 12 April 1999 in seven local authorities : Birmingham, Camden , Crawley, Dover, South Ayreshire, South Oxfordshire and Teignbridge. The purpose of this bulletin is to advise BA staff of their role in the procedures currently being tested, prior to national implementation from 6 September 1999.
Local Authority Procedures
3 To qualify for HB/CTB an individual will be required to provide confirmation of an National Insurance number for themselves and their partner and evidence of information to corroborate their identity as the owners of those NINOs. Local Authority (LA) staff have received instructions via circular Al 6/99 issued on 14 June on how to establish identity, these mirror those in operation in the BA.
4 Where an individual is not able to provide confirmation of their NINO, or does not have one, the LA will complete form DCI 1 LA and send it to the local Benefits Agency DCI section. (a copy of form DCI 1 LA is attached at Appendix 1 of this bulletin) This form is to treated as a secure document and must only be used by authorised personnel. The issue of the form should be controlled by a Nominated Officer within each area and
must be signed for at each handling.

BA Procedures
5 On receipt of a DCI 1 LA the BA DCI specialist trace officer will be responsible for completing parts B and C of the form. Parts A and B will be retained by the BA and part C will be returned to the LA to advise of one of the following options:

Part C1 BA will be responsible for undertaking a search of DCI based on the details on the DCI 1 LA and other supporting information supplied by the La. If a trace of a NINO is made based on this information the BA officer should enter the NINO here. If a NINO cannot be traced, BA will contact the customer for further information. On receipt of this information a further trace will be undertaken and if a NINO is found as a result of this trace, it will again be entered at part C1 and forwarded to the LA.
Part C2 If a NINO cannot be traced the customer will need to attend an Evidence of Identity interview with the BA and a CA5400 form completed. After the


interview conduct a further search of DCI to trace a NINO. If this further search is unsuccessful a NINO will be allocated and entered at part C2.
Part C3 This box will need to be completed if any or all of the following applies¬
• the customer has failed to reply to 2 requests for information
• the customer has failed to attend 2 appointments for an interview
• 2 visits to the customer's home were unsuccessful.
Part C4 In certain circumstances a NINO might not be able to be allocated. If this box is ticked the reason will need to be detailed in the space provided. A reason for this could be that the customer has attended an interview, but a NINO cannot be allocated because the customer's identity has not been established to an acceptable standard.
Part C5 The Name of the BA Admin. officer; the DCI Section office and telephone number should be entered at this section.
Liaison Procedures
6 Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit Circular A2/99 suggested that LA's should establish links with their local BA counterparts. If this has not already been done, it is important for BA Liaison officers to do the same. Stocks of form DCI 1 LA will be available to order in the normal manner by District Office liaison officers to supply to their LA's from week commencing 28/8/99. It is recommended that for smaller LA's 50 - 100 forms are initially ordered, for medium sized LA's 100 - 200 forms and for larger LA's 200 - 400 forms are ordered.
7 LA's have been asked to send DCI 1 LA to the nominated officer within BA. BA will then need to return the form to the nominated LA officer. BA staff will therefore need to obtain the names and signatures of their nominated LA officers. These names should be kept to a minimum. If someone other that an nominated officer signs the DCI 1 LA then the form should be rejected and returned to the LA.. Any rejected forms should be returned to the LA issuing officer's line manager. This will act as a barrier against internal fraud and will help to inform the line manager where there are faults in the issuing system.
8 Indications from the pilot are that virtually all customers are able to produce satisfactory evidence of their identity and proof of their NINO. As a consequence, there has been very little call on the BA to trace or allocate NINOs so far. Should any BA offices receive a DCI 1 LA, it is important that the form is actioned as quickly as possible. The form should be treated in the same manner as requests from Centralised Benefits for NINOs to be allocated, in accordance with the Service Level Agreement which exists between the two organisations.
No Resource to Public Funds
9 BA offices may receive DCI 1 LAs in respect of customers whose travel documents are stamped "no recourse to public funds". Although such customers would be excluded from receiving most BA administrated benefits, they are not precluded from receiving Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit. It is important therefore that DCI 1 LAs' in respect of such individuals are not automatically rejected and that action is initiated to trace, confirm or allocate a NINO as with other claims.
Further Information
10 If any area requires any further information or has any queries about the content of this bulletin, please contact either Craig Denby on telephone number 01772 254741 or John MacLean on 01772 254563.