Appealing a Housing Benefit decision

See what your options are if you disagree with a Housing Benefit decision.

Appeals and reviews guidance - helping to get the right decision
 

Do I need a review or appeal?

  • If you have questions about how we calculated your Entitlement, you can ask for an explanation or statement of reasons
  • If you want us to have another look at your decision because we might have missed something, you can ask for a review
  • If you want to challenge our decision, you can ask for an appeal. 

An appeal may be resolved at tribunal.

The tribunal is independent of the council.

A tribunal will listen to both sides before making a decision.

Who can ask for a review or appeal?

  • You can ask for a review or appeal of any decision made about your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction
  • Other people can help with your Review or Appeal request, but we can only take a request from the person who made the claim
  • To ask for a Review or Appeal for someone else, we need to see a Power of Attorney or Deputyship
  • If you want a Review or Appeal, please tell us why you think the decision is wrong. Please give as much detail as possible

What can happen?

  • We can look at evidence again or review new evidence
  • Your entitlement may go up
  • Your entitlement may go down
  • We cannot backdate council tax reduction claims past 2 months, and we cannot backdate housing benefit past 1 month
  • We cannot ignore regulations, like the Minimum Income Floor or maximum capital of £16,000
  • Other time limits may also apply

You have one month from the date on your decision letter to take action. You can:

Ask for an explanation

If you're unsure why you got a certain decision or think it's wrong, you can ask us to explain it.

  • write to the Revenues and Benefits Service within one month (you can email benefits@norwich.gov.uk)
  • we’ll send you a written explanation (called a “statement of reasons”).

Ask for a review

If you think we used the wrong information to make the decision:

  • write to us and explain which decision you want us to look at again and why
  • we’ll review it and let you know if we’ve changed it or kept it the same.
  • if you still disagree, you’ll get another month to appeal (see below).

Appeal the decision

It is not necessary to request the above two stages before making an appeal. You can appeal to an independent tribunal.

  • write to us, sign your letter and explain which decision you’re appealing and why
  • we’ll look at it again first. If we don’t change it, we’ll send it to the Courts and Tribunals Service
  • you’ll get confirmation that your appeal has been received.

Send your appeal to:

Norwich City Council, Revenues and Benefits Service, City Hall, St Peters Street, Norwich, NR2 1NH.

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