Category:
Unreported decisions
Useful for this clarification:
“In R v South Ribble DC HBRB ex parte Hamilton [2000] 33 HLR 102 it was held that there was no entitlement to housing benefit where fraud has underlain the assessment of entitlement to the ‘passporting’ benefit. In GB v London Borough of Hillingdon [2010] UKUT 11 (AAC) Judge Wikeley suggested some limitations of that principle, including cases where the DWP positively conclude on an examination of the merits of the case that there is no basis for removing the claimant’s past entitlement to the passporting benefit (see para. 42). However, Judge Wikeley made it clear in the following paragraph that that exception to the Hamilton principle does not apply if the DWP take no action to remove benefit, perhaps because the relevant records have been destroyed. That must apply with even greater force where the DWP have not even considered the matter. The tribunal directed the respondent authority to liaise with the DWP with regard to the position of Ms. Lee at the second hearing on 26 January 2011 and there was nothing before the tribunal to suggest that the DWP had at any time previously investigated the claimant’s entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance. In my judgment therefore, the tribunal was free to apply Hamilton and to hold that the claimant was not entitled to housing or council tax benefit because his claims were fraudulent.
17. For those reasons, I dismiss this appeal”.
Date:
02/07/2014
Judges:
Judge Bano
Associated Documents: