Housing and Council Tax benefit application protocol

I would appreciate if someone could provide me with some clarity on an issue.

Is there still in place a protocol where the DWP fill in a housing and council tax application form if a person applies for jobseekers allowance.

I have a client who applied for rapid reclaim jobseekers back in June 2012, she assumed that because her circumstances had not changed a housing and council application would be filled and passed on to the council. She only found out months later that her housing and council tax were no being paid and she found herself in arrears

If the protocol has changed or is no longer used, when was it stopped.

Any advice would be a big help

Hi,

The DWP still complete application forms when a customer applies for JSA and they indicate they wish to claim Housing Benefit (Local Authority Input Documents). However, I don’t think the absence of a LAID would automatically get HB reinstated.

If the Local Authority received evidence of the new JSA claim within one month of the decision to terminate the claim, the decision could have been revised without the need for a new claim form.  It might be worthwile getting them to check their records to see if this was the case.  If so, they could do an anytime revision.

You might also want to make sure that the claim was properly terminated i.e. the customer was properly notified of her claim being suspended and then terminated.  If not, this is grounds for an anytime revision request.

Hope this helps

Allan

It sounds like JSA was reclaimed after a short period of employment - is that right?  Was she entitled to any HB while working?  If she was, that is a game changer and the answer to your query would be completely different.

Assuming she earned enough not to qualify for HB while working, the problem with an any-time revision is that the correct outcome would still be the end of the earlier award when she started work: fixing any technical flaws in the adjudication process now wouldn’t get past that obstacle.  There is a rather strained technical argument that (a) the original termination or supersession process was not handled correctly, therefore (b) the award never technically ended so that (c) the period without entitlement may now be dealt with as a “closed period” and the original award left in place for subsequent periods.  I would be surprised if the Council buys that but it could be worth a shot.

If the earlier award was properly brought to an end she will need a new claim.  HB Reg 83 is designed to ensure that anyone who has any contact whatsoever with DWP should be able to put down a marker for HB at the same time - either by making an HB claim through DWP using the CMS or CAM platform (where DWP generates an input document for the LA from answers stored on their system), or by expressing an interest in HB which then serves as the date of claim provided they do make an actual claim within a month of being asked to.  Ask your client exactly what sort of conversation she had with DWP - if the subject of HB was even mentioned the Council may accept that initial contact was established and she would then have a month to claim running from the date on which a form was issued to her.

Hi our client was somewhat hazy about the information she was given, hence our query we have now sought clarity and it would appear her 4 week run for housing benefit was only paid-23 weeks before she ceased employment so generating the rapid reclaim, our client is adamant that she mentioned during the initial process of JSA (by phone) she had advised the Dwp operative that there had been no change to her housing circumstances , hence her belief that as per her previous claims a housing and council tax benefit claim would be generated and passed on to the council .  So in affect we believe there was only a 2-3 week gap in the termination of her original housing and council tax benefit entitlement and we will fight the protocol aspect..

Thank you for your prompt response and conformation.. It is much appreciated