Anyone with experience navigating a housing benefit claim will appreciate that this is never as straightforward as local authorities will have you believe; miss a tick box or select the wrong heading, and the application may be rejected and redone.
Our housing officers are very good at navigating the pitfalls of complicated housing benefit claims as part of their service to tenants. They have specific training and build-up contacts to ensure tenants get the housing-related benefits they are entitled to. Hopefully, this support removes the pressure from new tenants who may already be stressed by moving home or existing tenants who may otherwise have had difficulty covering their rent.
One such situation that housing officer Claire A has been dealing with was for a lady who had exceeded the capital threshold in her bank account, so rightly, her housing benefit was stopped. Initially, Claire A couldn’t understand why, but due to the complex needs of the tenant and them being deemed to have the capacity to manage their own finances, she struggled to get the help and assistance to deal with this issue. This has been a challenging situation, and throughout the year, the tenant paid their arrears, bringing her capital under the threshold so housing benefit could be applied for. Three new claims were cancelled because it wasn’t possible to get the evidence in time due to the tenant finding the process stressful and wanting to keep her information private, and no extension was granted, resulting in HB closing the door.
Claire A worked with support provider, Eden Futures, and adult services to raise concern about potential financial hardship and push for an assessment which resulted in an appointee being arranged to support the tenant with her finances. Housing benefit was eventually awarded but not backdated to when Claire believed the tenant was eligible from. The appointee could not support a final attempt at a backdated appeal for this lady after previous appeals were unsuccessful. Determined not to leave this alone, Claire sought further advice from a benefits expert (knowing that the last appeal would be the final attempt) and put together an argument. With support from Claire’s manager, Rachael, the final appeal was submitted, and we waited with our fingers crossed.
When Claire A found out the appeal was successful, she was so relieved and emotional that all the hard work had paid off. The tenant’s rent issue/housing benefit claim took approx. 50 documents, 60 emails and follow-up emails, and numerous telephone conversations, but that was worth the result. Almost £4000 was returned to the tenant in housing benefit payments she was rightly entitled to. Our tenant may never understand the hours of frustration that went on in the background. But Care Housing Association goes the extra mile and backs everything up with team members who won’t give up fighting for the correct result.