Interventions

Now an award of Housing and Council Tax Benefit is continuous until a change occurs that means there is no longer any entitlement to benefit.

Claimants must report immediately to the Local Authority any change in their income or circumstances that may affect their claim.

As all Local Authorities must continually work to identify and remove any fraud and error from the Housing/Council Tax Benefit scheme, a new system for checking entitlement was introduced called Interventions. Claims are selected for review according to the likelihood of a change happening, or by the length of time since a previous review has taken place.

A review can be carried out either by post, phone, visit, or office interview and comprises of the completion of a shortened form to confirm current circumstances. We will also ask to see original documentation to verify the details of the claim.

It must be noted that failure to provide proof that is required to confirm current entitlement or verify a change in circumstances could result in the termination of the award.

If you are selected to be visited you will normally receive a letter from us which will inform you of the date of visit, the name of the officer who will be calling and whether the visit will be made in the morning or afternoon. This means before or after 12 o'clock. We are unable to specify exact times. The letter will usually be sent out two weeks before the visit is due. If you cannot be available for the visit it is important that you ring us on the number on the letter to arrange another date for us to call.

It would be helpful if you have all your documents ready for the Visiting Officer to see when he calls. If there are items we need to see, but you don't have them to hand at the time of visit, you will be left an envelope to send them in to us. They must be sent to us within a month of the visit. We may suspend your claim if you delay in sending them to us.

If you receive a review form through the post and need help in completing it, you can contact us and we will give advice or arrange for a Visiting Officer to visit you to help.