Housing benefit appeals and disputes
How to ask for the decision to be looked at again
You can ask us to give you a statement in writing to explain how we made our decision about your housing benefit claim. This does not affect your right to appeal against our decision. The time we take to provide the statement will mean you have more time to ask us to look at our decision again or appeal to the Tribunals Service.
You must write to us or complete our dispute a benefit decision form. You can complete this form online or request a paper form to be sent to you. We must receive your request to dispute your benefit decision within one month of the date on the decision letter.
If there are special circumstances which mean you can't write to us within one month, you must explain why because we may still be able to look at our decision again. However, if your request is not received within 13 months of the decision letter, the law says that we cannot look at the decision again.
When you dispute a benefit decision we will ask for:
- Your benefits claim reference number
- Your contact details
- The address your dispute relates to (if different from your current address)
- Date of your decision letter
- Reason for disagreeing with our decision
- Any supporting evidence (you can upload this evidence in the online form)
If your decision was made over a month ago you can still dispute your decision; you will be asked why you are disputing your decision late (over one calendar month).
You can dispute your decision online:
Alternatively, complete our benefits contact form to request a paper application form which you can complete and return to us.
Last updated: 19/06/2023 09:59
