Benefits
This page contains the following information about Benefits:
Which agencies deal with benefits?
They've got my benefit wrong
Complaints about how benefit decisions are made
Table of ADR options
Which agencies deal with benefits? In England, Wales and Scotland, most of the common benefits are dealt with by:
1. The Department for Work and Pensions. The DWP has four key agencies:
- JobCentre Plus, for all claims by people of working age including Social Fund requests
- the Pension Service, for current and future pensioners
- the Disability and Carers Service, which supports disabled people and their carers, whether or not they work
- the Child Support Agency, which runs the child support system
2. Local authorities, which deal with Housing and Council Tax Benefits
3. HM Revenue & Customs, which deals with tax credits such as Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.
In Northern Ireland the main administering bodies are:
- Northern Ireland Housing Executive (housing benefit)
- Land and Property Services (help with paying your rates bill)
- Social Security Agency (social security benefits)
There are links to these agencies' websites at the bottom of this page.
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They've got my benefit wrong
If you think the agency making a decision about your benefit (such as Jobcentre Plus or your local authority) has got it wrong, you need to challenge their decision. This is different from making a complaint about HOW the decision was made (see below).
In most cases, if you think the decision itself is wrong, you will need to make an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support). This tribunal deals with disputes about:
- Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit, Employment Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance
- Attendance Allowance
- Retirement Pensions
- Child Support
- Tax credits
- Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay
- Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
There are strict deadlines for making an appeal about benefit decisions - this can be as little as four weeks. If you leave it too late, you cannot get the decision changed. So it is very important to get independent advice from a CAB or an advice agency as soon as possible if you think a decision is wrong.
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Complaints about how benefit decisions are made
There are some ADR options for making a complaint about HOW the decision about a benefit was made. Most ADR schemes can't overturn a decision made by any of the agencies which are part of the DWP. (Social Fund decisions are an exception; see below.)
Ombudsmen
Public Services Ombudsmen can examine complaints about the way benefit decisions were made. The sort of thing they will look at includes:
- taking too long to take action or failing to take action
- not following its own policy or rules
- treating a complainant unfairly in relation to others
- broken promises
- not making a decision in the correct way, such as failing to take account of relevant considerations, or wrongly taking account of irrelevant ones
- giving wrong or misleading information
For example, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) can investigate complaints about the way local authorities make decisions about housing benefit. Be aware that the LGO normally requires you to make your complaint to the local authority first. The local authority is expected to investigate and resolve the problem within 12 weeks. If it hasn't done this, or you are still unhappy with the outcome, you can go to the ombudsman. This means that the ombudsman won't normally be an appropriate route in urgent cases - if a delay in housing benefit means that you are at risk of losing your home, you need to get advice about urgent legal action. It is true that the LGO can ask local authorities to put legal proceedings (such as possession action or council tax recovery) on hold while they investigate the complaint. But it is really important to get legal advice on the best and safest way to deal with this first.
Social Fund requests
Complaints about decisions on Social Fund requests can be made to the Independent Review Service (IRS). Unlike the ombudsmen, the IRS can review both the way the decision was made and the decision itself. The IRS can confirm the decision, send it back for reconsideration, or overturn the decision and substitute its own decision. It's worth remembering that this is a review process rather than an appeal - you don't have a right to Social Fund payments, and decisions are made according to priority of need.
A Citizens Advice report in 2002 found that when people make requests for Social Fund payments, the standard of initial decision-making by Jobcentre Plus is poor. This appears to be the case still. In its 2010-11 Annual Report, the IRS says that it found important errors in 55% of Jobcentre Plus decisions. A high proportion of decisions, about 40%, are changed by the IRS inspector (IRS 2010-11 Annual Report). Although the percentage of decisions changed varies by Jobcentre Plus office, they can be as high as:
- 50% of Community Care grant decisions changed by the IRS
- 63%of Crisis Loan decisions changed
- 12% of Budgeting Loan decisions changed
This suggests it is worth asking the IRS to review the decision if you believe it was wrong.top
September 2011
| Benefit | Complain first to | Taking it further |
|---|---|---|
| Child Support | Child Support Agency | Independent Case Examiner |
| Council Tax Benefit | Local authority | Local Government Ombudsman |
| Housing Benefit | Local authority | Local Government Ombudsman |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| National Insurance | National Insurance Contributions Office | Adjudicator |
| State pensions and related benefits | Pension Service | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Social Fund | Jobcentre Plus | Independent Review Service |
| Tax credits | Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs | Adjudicator |
| All other benefits | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Benefit | Complain first to | Taking it further |
|---|---|---|
| Child Support | Child Support Agency | Independent Case Examiner |
| Council Tax Benefit | Local authority | Scottish Public Services Ombudsman |
| Housing Benefit | Local authority | Scottish Public Services Ombudsman |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| National Insurance | National Insurance Contributions Office | Adjudicator |
| State pensions and related benefits | Pension Service | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Social Fund | Jobcentre Plus | Independent Review Service |
| Tax credits | Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs | Adjudicator |
| All other benefits | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Benefit | Complain first to | Taking it further |
|---|---|---|
| Child Support | Child Support Agency | Independent Case Examiner |
| Council Tax Benefit | Local authority | Public Services Ombudsman for Wales |
| Housing Benefit | Local authority | Public Services Ombudsman for Wales |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| National Insurance | National Insurance Contributions Office | Adjudicator |
| State pensions and related benefits | Pension Service | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Social Fund | Jobcentre Plus | Independent Review Service |
| Tax credits | Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs | Adjudicator |
| All other benefits | Jobcentre Plus | Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Benefit | Complain first to | Taking it further |
|---|---|---|
| Child Support | NI Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| Help with paying your rates bill | Land and Property Services | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| Housing Benefit | NI Housing Executive | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| Income Support | Social Security Agency | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| National Insurance | Social Security Agency | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| State pensions and related benefits | Social Security Agency | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| Social Fund | Social Security Agency | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
| Tax credits | Inland Revenue | Adjudicator |
| All other benefits | Social Security Agency | Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
Links to websites for the organisations listed above
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Independent Case Examiner
Adjudicator
Independent Review Service
In England
Local Government Ombudsman for England
In Wales
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
In Scotland
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Ombudsman
Northern Ireland Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland Land and Property Services
Northern Ireland Social Security Agency
For an overview on this site of each of these organisations, go to Ombudsmen.
