Housing Benefit

You can ask us to review our decision about your Housing Benefit if you think it is wrong.

You can:

• write to us and ask for a statement of reasons
• write to us and ask for the decision to be looked at again (a revision request)
• appeal to an independent tribunal administered by the Tribunal Service

A request for a revision or appeal can only be made by a person affected by the decision, including:

• the claimant
• a nominated appointee such as a  solicitor or Citizens Advice, or individual with power of attorney to act on the claimant's behalf
• a landlord or agent – but only regarding who the housing benefit is paid to
• anyone whom we decide to recover a housing benefit overpayment from

For guidance on Housing Benefit, use our online form to contact the Benefits team.

Reviewing our Housing Benefit decision

Once we have received your letter, we will look into your appeal. This will not be done by the same person who made the original decision. Your claim will be checked thoroughly. Any information you provided in your letter will be taken into account.

We will change the decision from the date of the original decision if you either:

• asked us to look at the decision again within one calendar month
• had special circumstances that meant that we accepted your late request

A new decision notice will then be issued to you.

If the decision cannot be changed, we will send you an explanatory letter. The letter will confirm the original decision and explain the reasons for that decision. It will also tell you if you can appeal against the original decision. If so, the one-month time limit starts again from the date of the letter confirming the unchanged decision.

Appealing against our Housing Benefit decision

You have the right to appeal against the decision within one calendar month of the receipt of our letter. Again, this must be done in writing.

If you choose to appeal the decision and we are still unable to change the decision in your favour, your appeal will be forwarded to an independent tribunal (Tribunal Service) to decide your case. In certain circumstances, the time frame for appealing can be increased to up to 13 months.

Appealing to the Tribunal Service

Before making an appeal to the Tribunal Service, it is recommended that you seek independent legal advice.

We will prepare your appeal and send it to the Tribunal Service. This service is independent and impartial. We aim to submit all Tribunal Service appeals within 90 days.

If the Tribunal Service accepts your appeal, they will write to you with the date and time of the hearing. You can either attend the hearing and speak, or let the tribunal look at the case in your absence.

At the tribunal hearing, a judge will examine the facts, apply the facts to the law and come to a decision. Other specialist panel members may be present, if the judge feels they need an expert to help them understand the evidence.

If you disagree with the tribunal's decision, it may be possible to take the case to an upper tier tribunal, but only if you believe that the tribunal made an error of law.