Appeal against a Housing Benefit decision

Once we've decided how much benefit you'll get, we'll send you a letter telling you how it was worked out. If you disagree with our decision, you can ask us to give an explanation or to look at our decision again, or you can appeal directly to the independent tribunal.

Appeals must be made in writing, to:

Barnet Council Benefit Service

PO Box 238

ERITH

DA8 9HL

Email: benefit.appeals@barnet.gov.uk

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Appeal by email

Decisions you can’t appeal against

  • Which partner in a couple may claim
  • Who can claim for someone unable to act for themselves
  • When, how and to whom payments are made
  • The amount of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate we have used to calculate your benefit, although you can appeal about the number of bedrooms
  • How often payments are made
  • How much we pay when we have not yet finalised your award - called 'payment on account'
  • Suspending your claim or payments
  • What is an overpayment of council tax benefit
  • How we decide to recover an overpayment
  • Recovering overpayments from other social security benefits
  • The income we have used to make our decision, if the income has been decided by the Pension Service
  • Awards of discretionary housing payments, and their amounts

There may be other decisions that you can't appeal against. Please read your notification letter carefully, as it will tell you whether you can appeal or not.

Ask for an explanation

If you think a decision is wrong or you want to know more, you can ask us to explain it. We'll send you a letter telling you how we came to our decision. This is called a 'statement of reasons'.

Ask for the decision to be looked at again

If you think the decision is wrong you can ask us to look at our decision again. This request must be received within one month of the date of the decision and be signed by you or your authorised representative.

If you've asked for a statement of reasons, the month can be extended by the time it took for us to reply.

A different officer to the one who made the first decision will look at the claim. The new officer may decide that the original decision is correct or change your entitlement. We'll write to you explaining why we think the decision was correct or why it should be changed, this is called a 'reconsideration'.

If you're still unhappy with the decision, you can appeal

The appeal must be received within one month of the date of the decision letter. If you've asked for a statement of reasons, the month can be extended by time that it took for us to reply.

We'll look at our decision again, if we haven't already done so. If we think our decision is correct, the appeal will be decided by the Tribunals Service at an independent tribunal.

Any request for your claim to be looked at again or for an appeal must be in writing. It must be signed by you or your authorised representative. You must also tell us why you think the decision is wrong. If your request is later than the one month from the date of our original notification letter you should tell us why it is late.

If you're the person affected by a decision that we've made regarding your Housing Benefit,  you'll usually have the right of appeal.