Your rights
What if I'm not happy with the decision made about my council tax benefit and/or housing benefit?
If you are not satisfied with a decision which we have made about your council tax benefit and/or housing benefit you can:
- ask for an explanation over the telephone
- ask for a written statement of reasons for the decision. You can do this at any time
- ask us to look again at the decision. This is called a reconsideration.
- appeal against our decision to an independent appeal tribunal
Any request for a reconsideration or appeal must be in writing and must be received by the council within 1 calendar month of the date of the decision letter.
If you ask for a written statement of reasons
- you can ask for a written statement at any time in person, by telephone, fax or e-mail.
- we will try to provide this within 14 days of receiving your request
- if your request is received within the calendar month allowed for asking for a reconsideration or appealing, the time taken to give you the explanation will not count as part of that month
If you ask for a reconsideration
- you can ask for a reconsideration in writing by letter, fax or e-mail
- we will try to deal with your request within four weeks
- your case will be looked at by someone who was not involved in making the decision you disagree with
- we will tell you in writing whether we have changed the decision or not
- if we are not able to change the decision in your favour you will have the right to ask for a tribunal hearing. For how you can do this, see below.
Please view our Benefits contact information
If you appeal to an independent tribunal after a reconsideration
You must
- appeal in writing by letter or fax
- sign the appeal
- make sure it reaches the council within one calendar month of the date of the letter telling you about the decision you disagree with
- identify the decision you are appealing against
- give the reasons why you think the decision is wrong
We will
- prepare a submission and send it to the Tribunal Service
- try to do this within four weeks
- send you a copy of the submission with an enquiry form and a prepaid envelope addressed to the Tribunal Service
You must return the enquiry form to the Tribunal Service within 14 days of the date on the form
The Tribunal Service will arrange a date for your appeal to be heard and will write to you about this
If you appeal without asking for a reconsideration
You must
- appeal in writing by letter or fax
- sign the appeal
- make sure it reaches the council within one calendar month of the date of the letter telling you about the decision you disagree with
- identify the decision you are appealing against
- give the reasons why you think the decision is wrong
What happens next?
- we will try to deal with your appeal within four weeks
- your case will be looked at by someone from the benefits service who was not involved in making the decision you disagree with
- we will tell you in writing whether we have changed the decision or not
- if we have changed the decision in your favour your appeal will lapse
- you will have the right to ask for a written statement or reconsideration of the new decision or to appeal against it
- if we have not changed the decision in your favour we will prepare a submission and send it to the Tribunal Service
- we will send you a copy of the submission with an enquiry form and a prepaid envelope addressed to the Tribunal Service
- you must return the enquiry form to the Tribunal Service within 14 days of the date on the form
- the Tribunal Service will arrange a date for your appeal to be heard and will write to you about this
About the Tribunal Service
- the Tribunal Service is completely independent of the council
- it deals with other Social Security benefit appeals as well as housing and council tax benefit appeals
- it uses legally qualified people to hear cases
About the hearing
- most of Walsall ’s cases are heard in Wolverhampton
- you can attend the hearing
- you can bring someone with you to the hearing
- you can be represented at the hearing
- the council will usually send a representative
- you can claim travel expenses
What happens at the hearing?
- the tribunal for housing and council tax benefit cases consists of one legally qualified person
- the tribunal will ask you and the council questions
- you and the council will have the chance to ask questions
- you will have the chance to put your case
- the council will have the chance to put its case
- you will usually get a decision straight after the hearing
- if you do not get a decision on the day the Tribunal Service will send it to you within 7 days.
What if I ask for a reconsideration more than a month after the decision?
- the regulations say that a late request can be accepted in certain limited circumstances
- you will need to ask in writing for the time limit to be extended
- you will need to give the reasons why your request is late
- one of the council’s appeals officers will decide whether the request can be accepted
What if I appeal more than a month after the decision?
- the regulations say that a late appeal can be accepted in certain limited circumstances
- you will need to ask in writing for the time limit to be extended
- you will need to give the reasons why your request is late
- one of the council’s appeals officers will decide whether the appeal can be accepted
- if the council’s officer thinks the appeal cannot be accepted it will be sent to the Tribunal Service for a legally qualified person to make the final decision.