Local Authorities do not carry out annual reviews of Council Tax Reduction claims- 6 years of Arrears due to Overpayment

Client has been working and claiming Council Tax Reduction. This has been like this since 2016. The Council have now made contact to state that she should not have been receiving this because her income has increased since 2016 after a review due fluctuating Tax Credits payments.

The Council state that they do not carry out annual reviews of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction claims. All changes in a claimant’s circumstances are the duty of the claimant to report promptly. Whilst I can accept that the claimant has a duty to report any changes surly the Council has a duty to review the award on a regular period. The Council must be aware that there would be an increase in the claimants pay each year (they do ask when a claimant has a pension and there is an increase)

The only thing I can find is that-

14 Ascertainment of entitlement to discount] [or liability to premium]
[Before making any calculation for the purposes of Part V of these Regulations of the chargeable amount in respect of any dwelling in its area, a billing authority shall take reasonable steps to ascertain whether that amount is subject to a discount [or premium], and if so, the amount of that discount [or premium].]

Any advice?

There has not been a requirement on LA’s to do annual reviews of HB for something like 17 years after set benefit periods were taken out of the regs.  More importantly they don’t get the funding to carry out annual reviews of their entire caseload.  It will only exist in CTR if individual LAs decide to include it.  I don’t think it is in the prescribed regs.  LA’s may carry out ad hoc reviews of HB claims selected by DWP from time to time.

...that being said, LAs would normally be updated about tax credit changes through an automated system called ATLAS.  Automated reporting of changes to benefits, tax credits and wages was one of the reasons why annual reviews were no longer considered necessary.  It may be the LA had the info and sat on it, although that would not absolve the claimant from reporting it.

One of those scenarios where I would be tempted to do a SAR to see exactly what was known and when.

Also useful to know if said local authority changed its systems in that period. No porting of data from one system to another is perfect.

Thanks Andy

The client did provide HMRC with details of her income , every time it changed. She also sent the Council her P60 each year. The Council say they did not receive these (however the Council have used this as an excuse for lots of issues with other clients). Also, we appealed the decision and they claim they did not receive the appeal, even though it was done on their website and we have a ref.

Client is not able to obtain her sent emails as they were sent from her work email address. She no longer works there.

Would very much depend on the retention policy of the ex employer. Some will delete within x months of your departure but some will retain for 6 years and justify it on the basis of a possible defence against litigation. The mere fact of not working there is neither here nor there. The client can always enquire.