is my local council being unreasonable?

[VelvetChairGirl]

they have no phone number to call except an automated phone line that takes you thru steps, no way to inquire about something and talk to a human.

they want everything done via a website paying for things, registering for things etc, there is no chat facility on the website.

so to inquire/query anything you have to go into the council office and queue up.

do most councils work like this now?

I have got a strange letter today that seems to be saying they will no longer give me housing benefit because I am a job seekers allowance claimant. it is a very odd letter its just a calculated letter saying what my rent is, and saying what my HB will be from April i.e 0 and it says reason for change, claiming Job seekers allowance.

I have G.A.D anyway this isnt helping having to go in there tomorrow when I could have helped my anxierty now by phoning them up but no, I will probably get no sleep tonight.

Have a look at this
https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201103/housingbenefittandcouncilltaxsupport/2021/applyyforhousinggbenefitanddcounciltaxxsupport

They might be telling you to switch to UC as it doesn't look like you fit these categories for housing benefit

@TraceyLacey

Can you put a photo on here with your personal info covered?

thats a faff I am on a PC I would need to take a picture with the phone then email it to myself.

I did type out all the info for the email to the MP (and I have cut and pasted it to the councillors now too).

Benefit Decision Notice
reason for calculation change in liability.

the weekly benefit award is: £0.00
less overpayment recovery: £0.00
Net benefit payable: £0.00
weekly gross rent/council tax is: (the correct amount is written here)
the benefit starts on: 1st of April 2022
weekly eligible rent/council tax: £0.00
weekly ineligible service charge: £0.00

the first payment will be: blank
this will be paid on: blank
payment will be made by: blank
future payments will be made: blank

non dependent deductions: £0.00.

name: blank. gross income weekly: blank. income band: blank. deduction (rent): blank. deductions (council tax): blank.

In working out your weekly benefit, we have used the following information
claim based on Job Seekers Allowance.

I think it is them telling you to switch to UC. Change in liability because UC will pay for the housing benefit now - not the council

@girlmom21

Have a look at this [[https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201103/housing]]benefittandcouncilltaxsupport/2021/applyyforhousinggbenefitanddcounciltaxxsupport

They might be telling you to switch to UC as it doesn't look like you fit these categories for housing benefit

Thats what I want to know, are they only covering UC now and if so cant they just send a plain English letter saying so.

You'd like to think so, wouldn't you, but IME councils like to make everything as difficult as humanly possible.

Op i haven't rtft sorry but i think you aren't entitled to housing benefit now because it should be moved over to universal credit housing element.i had a weird similar thing involving esa. The council letter was weird and not helpful. Sorry for a rambled post but i bet my bottom dollar its tgat. All the best xx

@andysgirl22

Op i haven't rtft sorry but i think you aren't entitled to housing benefit now because it should be moved over to universal credit housing element.i had a weird similar thing involving esa. The council letter was weird and not helpful. Sorry for a rambled post but i bet my bottom dollar its tgat. All the best xx

Well I'll be going to the job centre tomorrow see if they know, wonder how many people they have had in with cryptic letters from the council.

obviously I couldn't go today because being signed up to the job centre that matches my area is far too convenient, so my job centre is not the one in Ealing (as far as I know Ealing Job Centre only serves those with uxbridge area postcodes now) gotta make people travel.

Liability generally means being liable to pay rent. It looks like an error to me.

As it's a decision notice you can dispute it. Ask for a review here:

www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201103/housing_benefit_and_council_tax_reduction/284/disputing_your_housing_benefit_decision

[quote LangClegsInSpace]Liability generally means being liable to pay rent. It looks like an error to me.

As it's a decision notice you can dispute it. Ask for a review here:

www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201103/housing_benefit_and_council_tax_reduction/284/disputing_your_housing_benefit_decision[/quote]
I cant because that page is one of the ones that goes error after you've put your details in and hit enter.

Perhaps everyone has broken the website trying to make sense of cryptic letters and phone systems that tell you to use the website.

Oh good grief!

CAB or local councillor is your best bet then. Ask them for help submitting a complaint at the same time if you have the energy.

@VelvetChairGirl

Perhaps everyone has broken the website trying to make sense of cryptic letters and phone systems that tell you to use the website.

It's possible. Occasionally LA systems seem to have a total brain fart and spit out loads of letters in error.

A couple of years back, our council sent letters to hundreds of ordinary family homes telling us we had been identified as unlicenced HMO. Reception staff sounded quite frazzled when we managed to get through.

Perhaps everyone has broken the website trying to make sense of cryptic letters and phone systems that tell you to use the website

More likely their website was crap in the first place
IME very few people with advanced I.T. skills will work for a council since they can get more money and a much more responsive environment elsewhere, and the council themselves will hardly prioritise their "review" page

Please don’t start a claim for UC without checking it might not benefit you . You can’t make a new claim for HB now (except in certain limited circumstances) but the OP has an open claim as I understand it and I don’t think the council can unilaterally decide you have to claim UC. Sounds like an letter generated in error to me

This is what is currently driving me nuts not only with councils but other entities

I'm moving house and have a number of queries and things I need explained and rather than go through bots - that don't understand English most of the time I would rather speak to an actual sentient person!

If I do get through to a person no 1 person can answer all queries (I've discovered this is even if they are ALL related to council tax!) so then I'm transferred and put on hold etc all over again! And this cannot save them time and resources as if you're anything like me by the time you do get through you're stressed and angry and more likely to ALSO make a complaint!

It's maddening and takes bloody ages!

Look on the website and find out who your local councillors are. Contact them and ask them to help you. That's their job.

That's an excellent idea from council side I may well do that thanks for posting that idea - and maybe if loads of us do this they'll get the bloody hint that we need to talk to a person!

Re benefits side op NORMALLY I'd recommend speaking to the councils welfare advice dept but they sound pretty useless all round so get support/advice from another agency preferably a locally based one as they will know how your council works and what the current backlogs may be.

It sounds like they may be migrating you to UC which is not something I would advise anyone to deal with alone especially when there is illness/disability to consider

I am on ESA myself dreading the transfer to UC and in regular contact with my adviser at the moment

Could it be that you won't be receiving housing benefit but would receive Local Housing Allowance? HB at least used to be only paid to social landlords.

Not true where you getting that info from?

LHA is the amount the govt thinks is a fair rent rate for your region, housing benefit is the benefit paid to claimants for them to pay rent.

I've been on housing benefit for almost 20 years and I've lived in private and social housing mostly private and hb was paid (rarely covered the full rent but covered some of it)

remember that next time you vote.

Well said

Perhaps everyone has broken the website trying to make sense of cryptic letters and phone systems that tell you to use the website.

Entirely possible

Please don’t start a claim for UC without checking it might not benefit you

Absolutely! Because you can't go back once you do either.

I've been advised until now to avoid going onto UC for as long as is possible even though initially I'd supposedly be better off the people advising me have a lot more experience and knowledge of UC than me

I work for the council and were not like this. Some departments are, some are busy walking the dogs, hanging washing on the line or walking the kids to school as they work from home and they are rarely available or they make themselves unavailable.

We, however work IN the office and always to hand.

There’s a different number here; maybe a human will answer and can then transfer you internally:
www.ealing.gov.uk/homepage/32/contact_us

In fact there are two numbers including a switchboard.

I think the council can make you switch to UC (thy did with me and i am still waiting for thr uc to come through from before Christmas) but this could be because i am in homeless b n b at the moment. I think pps advice o get proper benefit advice from cab or somewhere before switching is vital. Also all the best for the job centre tomorrow OP, it is a crazy system it seems at times xxx

@MrsDThomas

I work for the council and were not like this. Some departments are, some are busy walking the dogs, hanging washing on the line or walking the kids to school as they work from home and they are rarely available or they make themselves unavailable.

We, however work IN the office and always to hand.

This is my experience too. I work in the office and we have a direct number to our department that people can ring and talk to me.

We dont have a CAB found that out years ago when work was trying to force everyone onto zero hour contracts (at the time, dont work now).

Ealing Advice seems to be your local equivalent:

ealingadvice.org/

Or you could try the community benefits team:

www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201148/community_advice/254/community_benefits_team

You can call or webchat CAB even if you haven't got a local one, but it would be better if you had a local adviser who knew your council and how they work.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/contact-us/

I got a response from the councillor saying they are looking into it.

think I will hold off going to the job centre, until next week.

It’s likely a notification letter generated because it the new ctax charges for April being updated on the system. Normally there has to be a change in what you are claiming to be switched to UC something like making a claim for tax credits would mean a chair ro UC.

You say it’s got your HB and council tax reference on it. Our notification letters will say somehwere at the top if they are for housing benefit or council tax benefit can you see anything like that?

@toomanyhobbies

It’s likely a notification letter generated because it the new ctax charges for April being updated on the system. Normally there has to be a change in what you are claiming to be switched to UC something like making a claim for tax credits would mean a chair ro UC.

You say it’s got your HB and council tax reference on it. Our notification letters will say somehwere at the top if they are for housing benefit or council tax benefit can you see anything like that?

I think its housing benefit