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Dear Tony,
Please see reg 29(2) Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 about a local authority "estimating" earnings at the beginning of a claim when someone comes off benefits into work, whilst awaiting proof of earnings.
Your client's case may be similar to that in a recent UT Decision - CH 978 2009. I particularly like Judge Mesher's commentary at Paragraph 28 - "The claimant did not send in any payslips. However, the consequence of that could not have been the withdrawal of the claim on the assumption that the claimant did not wish to proceed with it. Even if the letter of 20 November 2007 had been properly issued under regulation 83(7)(a), that could not have followed. There would have to have been a decision to disallow the claim. Standard wording of this kind is still often seen in letters from local authorities, apparently left over from a much earlier and mistaken view of the law, and should no longer be used. The excuse of not being able to change the letters provided in computer packages has run out of whatever validity it once had. As it is, the continued use of such language gives the appearance of an attempt to intimidate claimants by misstating the legal position."
I hope that this helps.
Regards
Chris
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