Housing Benefit appeals

If you have applied for or are getting housing benefit, this section will tell what you can do if you think a decision is wrong.

Asking for information (a written statement) about a decision

• You have already received a letter telling you about our decision
• Your request for a written statement must be in writing and signed by you. (You can also ask for a verbal statement by phoning us on 020 8430 2000 or by visiting one of our offices)

If you ask for a written statement of reasons for our decision, and then decide to appeal or ask us to look at the decision again, the one month notice period for making the request will be extended by the time we take to prepare the statement.

Asking us to look at our decision again

• You have received a letter telling you about our decision and believe it is wrong
• You must ask us in writing to look at the decision again within one month of receiving the decision letter. If your request is later than one month you must inform us in writing of the reason for the delay. Send the request to us at:

Newham Benefit Service
PO Box 23504
London E15 4UU

If the decision CAN be changed:

• We will send you a letter explaining what the new decision is. If your request is within one month our decision letter, the new decision will apply from the date of the decision. If we receive your decision later than one month after the letter, the new decision will normally apply from the date we receive your request
• If you do not agree with the new decision you can still ask for it to be looked at again

If the decision CANNOT be changed:

• We will send you a letter confirming the original decision. The letter will tell you if you can appeal
• If you can and want to appeal, you must start this process within one month from the date of the letter confirming our decision
• You have received a letter about a decision
• You believe it is wrong and the letter telling you about the decision says you have the right to appeal

Telling us you would like to appeal

You can download the appeal form or you can simply write to us at:

Newham Benefit Service
PO Box 23504
London E15 4UU

We will look again at the decision we have made. If we agree the original decision is wrong and the new decision is to your advantage, we will send you a new decision and your appeal will stop. If you do not agree with the new decision, you can appeal against it.

If we agree the original decision is wrong but our new decision is not to your advantage, you have another month to comment on the new decision, after which time we will send your appeal to the Appeals Service.

If we do not change our decision, we will send your appeal to the Appeals Service straightaway. You will then be contacted by the Appeals Service.

The Appeal Service is independent of the Council and will take a decision on your appeal at a tribunal, which you can attend in person.

You can ask for more information in a written statement about the decision, ask for the decision to be looked at again, or inform us that you would like to appeal the decision.