reminder from the DWP ...

'DWP's Housing and Council Tax Benefit backdating survey closes on 31 July

From October 2008, the Housing and Council Tax Benefit (HB/CTB) rules were changed so that the maximum period that working age customers could ask for their claims to be backdated was reduced to six months. In introducing the new rules, the Government said that it intended eventually to introduce a limit of three months, but that it would first review the impact of the change to six months at the end of 2009.

The Department for Work and Pensions is currently using several methods to gather information and evidence to inform the review. One of these is a questionnaire survey which was published on its website in March, inviting contributions both from an organisational and individual perspective.

DWP would like to obtain as many contributions as possible before the survey ends on 31 July, and would particularly welcome responses that offer your organisation's overall assessment of the impact of the changes. If your organisation has an interest in HB/CTB issues and hasn't contributed already, DWP hopes that you will do so before the end of the survey period.

The survey can be found at http://dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2009/hb-ctb-backdating.shtml

If you have any questions about the survey please contact Richard Grennan, Housing Benefit Strategy Division, 020 7449 5328 or richard.grennan@dwp.gsi.gov.uk .