My job is to ensure that Westcountry Housing residents claim all the welfare benefits that they are entitled to, and to assist when benefit queries arise.
It is widely accepted that millions of pounds in benefits goes unclaimed in Britain each year.
I spend half my working week working directly with Residents, and the other half providing training and support in welfare benefits to Westcountry staff.
I am happy to discuss benefit issues by phone and may make home visits when necessary. Call me on 01803 869703. The service I provide includes:
- Highlighting various welfare benefits that Residents may not be aware they can claim.
- Assisting with filling in claim forms where necessary.
- Supporting Residents in having unfavourable benefit decisions looked at again.
- Representing Residents at welfare benefit Appeal hearings when appropriate.
I also provide benefit information in 'Coast to Coast', our residents' newsletter; so make sure you remember to read my column! You can find the latest one at the foot of this web page.
Supported Housing Residents, or residents receiving help from Housing Support staff, should ask their support worker or scheme manager for help with welfare benefits.
If you have access to the internet, there are a number of useful websites providing benefits information and I have included their phone numbers and addresses in case you need to call or visit them.
Citizens Advice Bureau http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/benefits.htm
Benefits http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
Work https://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/HomeIR.aspx
Welfare benefits update from Winter 2008 Coast to Coast residents' newsletter:
Hi Folks
Some of you may have needed to claim backdated benefits in the past. This happens where you are making a claim for a benefit, but you would actually have been entitled to this benefit from an earlier date.
If, when you claim, you request that your claim be backdated, and can show continuous good reason why your claim is late, you may be awarded benefit for the period before your actual date of claim. This could happen where you have been too unwell to claim, or have been in hospital, or where someone incorrectly told you earlier that you could not claim. There have been, up until now, different maximum backdating rules for different benefits.
For Income Support, benefit can be backdated up to one month, and in very limited circumstances, up to three months. Housing Benefit and Pension Credit can both be backdated for up to twelve months.
In the case of Pension Credit, it is currently not even necessary to show good reason for your late claim. You simply need to show that you would have been entitled, had you claimed. This has been helpful, because older people are often not aware that they should claim.
Now the bad news…! The Government is intending to reduce some of these maximum backdating periods. It is intended that the limit for both Housing Benefit and Pension Credit be reduced to three months. This is apparently “to provide consistency and simplicity for customers”.
It will also significantly reduce the amount of benefit that someone might be entitled to, where their claim is delayed for some good reason! These changes are currently going through the legal process before becoming law.
So the message is - if you might be eligible to claim a benefit, don’t delay - you could lose money!
As always, if you have a specific benefits query or problem, please phone me on 01803 869703, or e-mail me at linus.mccloskey@westcountryha.org.uk
Linus McCloskey