Reply To: CTR notification letters
Mike HughesWe are considering this too. The CTR Prescribed regulations detail what has to be in a notification, but these are only very general requirements (appeal rights, duty to notify changes of circs etc.). There is no requirement to explain the calculation in the same way that there are for HB claims.
The CT Demand Regs require that on CTAX Demand you tell them the value of their CTR entitlement, so making the CTAX Bill a combined bill and CTR notification makes sense (I think).
For other CT Discounts, such as SPD, etc. the bill counts as the notification and contains details of appeal rights and duty to notify change of circs, so why not CTR?
There is a significant difference between seeing something as a “very general requirement” and understanding the real world interpretation of that. It’s long been accepted by tribunals for example that the bare minimum is that a claimant ought to be able to look at their entitlement and fully understand how it has been calculated. They’re very clear that that’s a world away from ensuring that all the numbers are on the document. Similarly with overpayments. If it’s not very plain English you will very much be hoist by your own petard.
Equally, notification of appeal rights won’t suffice. If, for example, you’ve a claimant who is registered sight impaired and you’ve not at minimum enquired how that plays out in practice then you’ll potentially find yourself on the sticky end of an EA 10 claim given that the duty to look at reasonable adjustments is an anticipatory one. Same applies in LD cases, MH cases etc. There’s a public law duty to use what you have and a very real danger that the approach being described here is a step too far and essentially corner cutting with no real thought as to the real world consequences.