What to do if you think a benefits decision is wrong
Appealing benefits decisions
Amanda Ryan, bpha’s Money Advice Manager
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Housing benefits
If you make a new claim for housing benefits - or your current benefits are reduced or stopped by your local council - you can ask to have the decision reviewed. The process is generally the same for appealing council tax benefit decisions.
How to appeal
If you think the decision is incorrect, check your council’s website or call them to find out how to appeal (ask for a review), for example, Bedford Borough Council will ask you to email. While Cambridge City Council will ask you to complete a form. They will tell you what information you need to include and explain what will happen once they’ve received your appeal.
Usually you need to appeal within one month of the council’s decision – the council’s website should make this clear.
If there’s a reason you were unable to appeal within one month, it’s still worth appealing but you will need to provide a reason, such as illness, so that the council can decide whether to allow you to continue with the appeal.
The council will then review your claim. It’s important to know that your benefits may stay the same or increase – or they could be reduced or stopped. The decision will be based on facts, you won’t be penalised for deciding to appeal. When the council contacts you, they will tell you what to do if you still don’t agree with their decision.
Government benefits
You can also appeal decisions about benefits you receive from the government, such as Universal Credit.
Your decision letter will tell you how to do this. Usually the first step is to ask for ‘mandatory reconsideration’ – that means the decision will be reviewed. Your letter will tell you if this step is needed – in some situations, you’ll be able to appeal without mandatory reconsideration. Your letter will tell you how.
If you don’t agree with the result of the mandatory reconsideration, you can appeal online to a tribunal (a ‘body’ that resolves disputes). You have to do this within one month.
You can manage your appeal online using a link that will be included in the email that you will receive to say that your appeal has been received.
You will be asked to decide if you would like to appear at the tribunal in person. If you decide not to, the decision will be based on the information you provided online, along with any other evidence you’ve given.
If you’re not happy with the tribunal decision, information on how to appeal it will be included in your decision letter. You can do this if you believe a mistake has been made in the process, or you think the decision is wrong for a legal reason.
Appealing is free and you don’t need any legal support. If you find the process difficult or need any help understanding information, you can contact my team who will be able to help. We can look at your decision letter and advise whether we think you have grounds to appeal – if you do, we’ll help you to do that.