Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Can I ask for your thoughts on Reg 69(5)(b) CTB Regs?

We have a claimant who moved in 8.3.10 and claimed on 22.4.10. At the time of making her claim she was not registered for ctax, so off the back of her claim we made her liable from date of move being 8.3.10.

I’ve been told in the past (by an external trainer) that as long as the claim for CTB is received within a calendar month of the customer being made liable for ctax, CTB is paid from the date of liability. In this case I would be paying from 8.3.10 even though the claim has only been received 22.4.10 (backdating has been requested as well, which would mean I would potentially backdate the HB but that CTB didn’t need to be backdated as form received within a month of liability being created).

Do you agree I go back and pay CTB from liab start? Or do I pay from Monday following form date and consider the earlier period as backdating?

Any thoughs appreciated, thanks

[Kevin D]

[b:8bb3a93dce]CTBR 69(5)(b)[/b:8bb3a93dce] doesn’t make any reference to the claimant “being made liable”. The wording is “becomes liable”. The claimant “becomes liable” from 8 Mar 2010; the date of billing doesn’t change that.

As an aside, let’s say the “being made liable” interpretation was correct. On that basis, CTBR 69(5)(b) would only allow CTB to be claimed from the date on which the claimant was made liable; not the date from which s/he becomes liable. That plainly isn’t the context of the provision.

[Anonymous]

I think one of your colleagues was asking about this recently:
http://hbinfo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21731

Not sure exactly what the trainer has told you but it seems to have caused some confusion. If the claimant is on IS/JSA/ESA (income-based) and claims within a month of becoming liable (in your case that would be within a month of 08/03/10), the date of claim would be 08/03/10. Otherwise the normal backdating rules would apply. The date the liability is created is not really an issue, although a delay in setting the liability may be grounds for backdating (subject to the 6 month limit).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your comments, that’s cleared that up!

[Author]

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