Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Can you please help

We have traditionally cancelled claims after 52 weeks of nil entitlement

Trouble is, I now cannot find anything in the regs….

Can we actually do this anymore?

Thanks

[jmembery]

A claim ends on the first day of nil entitlement.
When you choose to cancel it on your system is your own business and not covered in the regs.

I don’t understand, however, why you wait a year?

[Anonymous]

Which reg is the nil entitlement cancellation covered by? thanks

[Kevin D]

A claim ceases to exist once it is decided. Any benefit becomes an award of entitlement based on that claim. Once such an award ends, no further benefit can be paid without a new claim.

[b:00643f1cb5]CSPSSA 2000; Sch 7, para 2[/b:00643f1cb5]

new.hbinfo.org.com/menu2/acts/cspssa2000.shtml#index72

Regards

[Anonymous]

Sorry – mixing terminology – we cancel awards after 52 weeks of nil entitlement – is this actually an end of an award?

[jmembery]

Sorry, my first e-mail was a bit sloppy.
Kevin’s e-mail was precise and, as usual, correct.

The end of the award comes when the claimant first has nil entitlement.
When you say “cancel” I assume you mean to end the case on your computer system, which, as I said in my previous e-mail, is down to you when and how you do this.

The regs allow you to “terminate entitlement”, but in the case you are talking about the NIL award means there is no entitlement to terminate.

[Kevin D]

To add to jmembery’s post…..

As Jeff said, if you have a claim, but there is nil entitlement, there is no award. Therefore, the claim ceases to exist – irrespective of what a computer system says. The computer system is simply a tool used in the administration of a claim – the legal status of the hard paperwork is not affected by the computer system.

Most LAs I’ve worked at simply “cancel” down claims on their HB system – usually to stop the system generating rubbish correspondence at uprating and other “significant” dates (e.g. birthdays).

However, I do know of one LA that deliberately leaves nil entitlement cases “open” on their HB computer system for two weeks only – they use IBS. This is actually not a bad idea (specific to IBS) simply because it is then easier to view the income / household details etc when displaying the claim if there is a subsequent telephone or counter enquiry.

Regards

[pslamb]

Could I just clarify something?

If a claim is paying partial Housing Benefit and no Council Tax Benefit, then has a change of circumstance (for example drop in earnings) would we have to amend the Housing Benefit, but request a new Council Tax Benefit application as the Council Tax Benefit was closed due to nil entitlement?

[Anonymous]

PSLamb
I think that you have it correct there.
As Kevin and Jeff have said above, once there is nil entitlement – then that’s yer lot!
We make seperate decisions on HB and CTB so a nil entitlement decision means the end of one claim (HB for example) even if the other one (CTB) runs on. 8)

[pslamb]

Thanks Jon

[Kevin D]

Although…. depending on the wording…..

You could treat the clmt’s correspondence as a claim (even if as a defective claim that has to be rectified).

[Darren W]

Just to add to what others have said, we do not manually end our nil entitlement claims. Instead we run a report once a week that ends all claim parts where there has been nil entitlement for 33 days. The reasoning for this is that it gives them time to appeal against the decision, which if succesfull means we do not have to set-up the claim again.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for needing to clarify this further – I hope that it is the start of the week feeling.

If a claim is nil entitled due to high income but we know that later on they will be entitled – i.e. working and income too high and then stops work and onto Income Support (IS) – would we need a new claim for the working period which would be nil entitled and then another when the IS kicks in?

What is reg 83(10) for when it says about 13 weeks rule?

[david farrar]

pmdennison

A) Have they submitted an advance claim as they knew they would be going onto Income Support at time of claiming?
or
B) have they made an in work claim which has been refused as income exceeds, and then later have had a change of circumstance by going onto Income Support?

In case A then you would treat claim as made in week before entitlement would begin. e.g. date Income Support is awarded.

In case B, as the in work claim has been refused, it ceases to exist. Therefore a new claim would be required for the period on Income Support

[Author]

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