Appeal a benefit decision

You can ask us to reconsider a decision about your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support if you think it is wrong.

You can:

• write to us and ask for an explanation
• write to us and ask for the decision to be looked at again
• appeal to an independent tribunal administered by the Tribunal Service

Benefit appeals

You must make your request in writing within one month of the date on your decision letter. 

You don't have to ask us to reconsider the decision before appealing, so it’s important to be clear whether you’re asking us for an explanation, to look at the decision again, or whether you wish to proceed straight to an independent tribunal.

What we do

When we reconsider your claim it will be looked at and checked by a different officer to the one who made the original decision. We will then take into consideration what you have told us. If the decision is wrong, we’ll change it.

We'll then write to you and let you know what we’ve decided. If we decide not to change the decision we will send you a letter explaining why.

Tribunals

You can appeal against the decision we have made and ask us to pass your case to an independent tribunal run by the tribunal service.

You can choose to appeal to a tribunal immediately after you receive a decision notice from us, or after we have looked at the decision again.

To start the tribunal process, you'll need to contact us using the details below.

Council Tax Support appeals 

You can also contact us to disagree with a decision about Council Tax Support. We will then write to you explaining any changes or why we cannot change our decision.

Appeals must be made in writing within one month of the date on the decision letter. Make sure you are aware of the strict time limits when appealing a decision.

If you have been told the decision is not going to change after disagreeing, you can appeal directly to the Valuation Office Agency.