I have benn told, HB are sending letters out to our clients with the following phrase on.. Not knowing a lot about these things, I thought I would run it past you lot, cos it just doesnt sound right...


"I have accepted your reasons for the late claim. However, I am unable to determine whether you are entitled to any benefit for this period. So I have decided you are not entitled"


Thoughts..?

Sounds like they are saying "we accept you had a good reason for claiming late but we haven't got enough evidence to assess whether you were actually entitled for this past period" (e.g. don't know what your income was).

If they don't know then they should try to find out (e.g. by writing back and asking for proof of income). They shouldn't refuse the claim if they haven't done this, unless.. If they have already done this and your client has not sent this in within the time allowed and doesn't have a good reason for not providing it then they can make a nil decision. The wording in their letter doesn't indicate that this has been done but that may be becasue it's a badly drafted form letter.

Hopefully the HB dept aren't just trying to clear a backlog by refusing claims without giving your clients to substantiate their entitlement for the past period?

Simple solution. Appeal. But, with the appeal, provide all info / evidence for incm / cap etc. A Tribunal will not (normally) take kindly to a LA failing to revise in such circumstances.