The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001

Made: 15th March 2001

Coming into force: 2nd July 2001

Whereas a draft of this Instrument was laid before Parliament in accordance with section 80(1)(a) of the Social Security Act 1998 and section 68 of, and paragraph 20(4) of Schedule 7 to, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament;

Now, therefore, the Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of powers conferred by sections 5(1)(hh) and 6(1)(hh) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, sections 7(6)(a) and 79(4) to (7) of the Social Security Act 1998 and section 68 of, and paragraphs 3(1), (4) and (6), 4(4) and (6), 6(2)(e), (4), (7) and (8), 8(7)(c) and (8), 10(1), 12, 13, 14(2), 15, 16(3) and (5), 19(1), 20(1)(b) and (3) and 23(1) and (2) of Schedule 7 to, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, by this Instrument, which contains only regulations made by virtue of, or consequential upon, those provisions of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 and which are made before the end of the period of six months beginning with the coming into force of those provisions, after consultation with the Council on Tribunals in accordance with section 8 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992, and after consultation with organisations appearing to him to be representative of the authorities concerned, hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART I — GENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 2nd July 2001.

• (2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1998 Act” means the Social Security Act 1998;

• “the Act” means the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000;

• “the Administration Act” means the Social Security Administration Act 1992;

• “appeal” means an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal;

• “appropriate relevant authority” has the meaning it has in paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the Act;

• “benefit week” means a period of seven consecutive days commencing on a Monday and ending on a Sunday;

• ...

• “claimant” means a person claiming housing benefit or council tax benefit or both;

• ...

• “the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

• “Council Tax Benefit Regulations” means the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006;

• “Council Tax Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations” means the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006;

• “couple” means—two people who are married to, or civil partners of, each other and are members of the same household; ortwo people who are not married to, or civil partners of, each other but are living together as if they were a married couple or civil partners;

• “Decisions and Appeals Regulations 1999” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 ;

• “family” has the same meaning as in section 137 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

• ...

• ...

• “Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006;

• “Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006;

• ...

• “official error” means an error made by—a relevant authority or a person—authorised to carry out any function of a relevant authority relating to housing benefit or council tax benefit; orproviding services relating to housing benefit or council tax benefit directly or indirectly to a relevant authority;an officer of—the Department for Work and Pensions; orthe Commissioners of Inland Revenue,acting as such;...but excludes any error caused wholly or partly by any person or body not specified in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition and any error of law which is shown to have been an error only by virtue of a subsequent decision of the Upper Tribunal or the court;

• ...

• “partner” means—where a claimant is a member of a couple, the other member of that couple; orwhere a claimant is polygamously married to two or more members of his household, any such member;

• “person affected” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3;

• “the Pilot Scheme Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (Loss of Benefit) (Pilot Scheme) Regulations 2007;

• ...

• “principal parties” has the same meaning as in paragraph 7(4) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

• “relevant authority” has the same meaning as in paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

• “relevant decision” has the same meaning as in paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

• “Scottish disability benefit” means, as the context requires, either of the following benefits—adult disability payment within the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022; andchild disability payment within the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021;

• “the Welfare Reform Act” means the Welfare Reform Act 2007.

• ...

• ...

• (3) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference—

• (a) to a numbered regulation is to the regulation in these Regulations bearing that number;

• (b) in a regulation to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph in that regulation bearing that number.

Service of notices or documents

2

Where, by, or in consequence of, any provision of these Regulations or Schedule 7 to the Act—

• (a) any notice or other document is required to be given or sent to..., the Secretary of State or the relevant authority, that notice or document shall be treated as having been so given or sent on the day that it is received by..., the Secretary of State or the relevant authority, as the case may be; and

• (b) any notice (including notification of a decision of a relevant authority) or other document is required to be given or sent to any person other than..., the Secretary of State or the relevant authority, as the case may be, that notice or document shall, if sent by post to that person’s last known address, be treated as having been so given or sent on the day it was posted.

Person treated as a person affected by a decision

3

• (1) For the purposes of Schedule 7 to the Act and subject to paragraph (2), a person is to be treated as a person affected by a relevant decision of a relevant authority where that person is—

• (a) a claimant;

• (b) in the case of a person who is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling and is unable for the time being to act—

• (i) a deputy appointed by the Court of Protection with power to claim, or as the case may be, receive benefit on his behalf,

• (ii) in Scotland, a tutor, curator, judicial factor or other guardian acting or appointed in terms of law administering that person’s estate, or

• (iii) an attorney with a general power or a power to receive benefit appointed by the person liable to make those payments under the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, the Enduring Powers of Attorney Act 1985 or the Mental Capacity Act 2005 or otherwise;

• (c) a person appointed by the relevant authority under regulation 82(3) of the Housing Benefit Regulations, regulation 63(3) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations, regulation 68(3) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 52(3) of the Council Tax Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations (appointments for persons unable to act);

• (d) a person from whom the relevant authority determines that—

• (i) an overpayment is recoverable in accordance with Part 13 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or Part 12 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations; or

• (ii) excess benefit is recoverable in accordance with Part 11 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations or Part 10 of the Council Tax Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations; or

• (e) a landlord or agent acting on behalf of that landlord and that decision is made under—

• (i) regulation 95 (circumstances in which payment is to be made to the landlord) of the Housing Benefit Regulations;

• (ii) regulation 96 (circumstances in which payment may be made to the landlord) of those Regulations;

• (iii) regulation 76 (circumstances in which payment is to be made to the landlord) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations;

• (iv) regulation 77 (circumstances in which payment may be made to the landlord) of those Regulations.

• (2) Paragraph (1) only applies in relation to a person referred to in paragraph (1) where the rights, duties or obligations of that person are affected by a relevant decision.

PART II — REVISIONS AND SUPERSESSIONS

Revision of decisions

4

• (1) Subject to the provisions in this regulation, a relevant decision (“the original decision”) may be revised or further revised by the relevant authority which made the decision where—

• (a) subject to regulation 10A(3), the person affected makes an application for a revision within—

• (i) one month of the date of notification of the original decision; or

• (ii) such extended time as the relevant authority may allow under regulation 5;

• (b) within one month of the date of notification of the original decision that authority has information which is sufficient to show that the original decision was made in ignorance of, or was based upon a mistake as to, some material fact; or

• (c) an appeal is made under paragraph 6 of Schedule 7 to the Act against the original decision within the time prescribed by Tribunal Procedure Rules, but the appeal has not been determined.

• (2) An original decision may be revised or further revised by the relevant authority which made the decision, at any time by that authority, where that decision—

• (a) arose from an official error; or

• (b) was made in ignorance of, or was based upon a mistake as to, some material fact and as a result of that ignorance of or mistake as to that fact, the decision was more advantageous to the person affected than it would otherwise have been but for that ignorance or mistake.

• (3) Notwithstanding the provisions in paragraph (1), a relevant decision which adopts a rent officer’s determination, board and attendance determination, broad rental market area determination or local housing allowance determination may be revised or further revised by the relevant authority which made the decision at any time in consequence of a rent officer’s redetermination, substitute determination substitute redetermination, board and attendance redetermination, substitute board and attendance determination, substitute board and attendance redetermination, amended broad rental market area determination or amended local housing allowance determination made under the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997 or the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) (Scotland) Order 1997 which resulted in an increase in the amount which represents the rent for the purposes of calculating entitlement to benefit.

• (4) For the purposes of calculating the period in paragraph (1)(a)(i), where a written statement is requested under regulation 10, no account shall be taken of any period beginning with the day on which the relevant authority received the request for a statement and ending with the day on which that statement was provided to that person.

• (5) Where the relevant authority requires further evidence or information in order to consider all the issues raised by an application under paragraph (1)(a) (“the original application”), that authority shall notify the applicant that further evidence or information is required and, if it does so, the decision may be revised—

• (a) where the evidence or information so requested is provided within one month of the date of the notification or such longer period as the relevant authority may allow; or

• (b) where such evidence or information is not provided within the period referred to in sub-paragraph (a), on the basis of the original application.

• (6) A relevant decision that is prescribed under paragraph 6(2)(e) or (4)(a) of Schedule 7 to the Act may be revised at any time.

• (7) A relevant decision made in respect of a claim or an award may be revised where—

• (a) a decision in respect of that claim or that award is given by the First-tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal or court on appeal against a decision (“decision A”);

• (b) the relevant decision was made after decision A; and

• (c) the relevant decision would have been made differently had the relevant authority been aware of that appeal decision at the time it made the relevant decision.

• (7A) Where—

• (a) a restriction is imposed on a person under section 6B, 7, 8 or 9 of the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 (loss of benefit provisions) as a result of the person—

• (i) being convicted of an offence by a court; or

• (ii) agreeing to pay a penalty as an alternative to prosecution under section 115A of the Administration Act or section 109A of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, and

• (b) that conviction is quashed or set aside by that or any other court, or the person withdraws his agreement to pay a penalty,

a decision of the relevant authority made in accordance with regulation 7(2)(g) or (h) may be revised at any time.

• (7B) Where—

• (a) the relevant authority makes an original decision awarding housing benefit or council tax benefit to a claimant; and

• (b) entitlement to a relevant benefit within the meaning of section 8(3) of the 1998 Act or Scottish disability benefit or to an increase in the rate of that relevant benefit or Scottish disability benefit is awarded to the claimant or a member of his family for a period which includes the date on which the original decision took effect,

the relevant authority may revise or further revise that original decision at any time.

• (7C) Where entitlement to housing benefit or council tax benefit has ceased (“decision A”) because entitlement to a relevant benefit within the meaning of section 8(3) of the 1998 Act has ceased (“decision B”), decision A may be revised at any time if the entitlement to the relevant benefit to which decision B applies has been reinstated in consequence of a decision made under section 9 or 10 of the 1998 Act or on an appeal under section 12 of that Act

• (7D) Where—

• (a) a person elects for an increase of—

• (i) a Category A or Category B retirement pension in accordance with paragraph A1 or 3C of Schedule 5 to the Contributions and Benefits Act (pension increase or lump sum where entitlement to retirement pension is deferred);

• (ii) a shared additional pension in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 5A to that Act (pension increase or lump sum where entitlement to shared additional pension is deferred); or, as the case may be,

• (iii) graduated retirement benefit in accordance with paragraph 12 or 17 of Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Graduated Retirement Benefit) Regulations 2005 (further provisions replacing section 36(4) of the National Insurance Act 1965: increases of graduated retirement benefit and lump sums);

• (b) the relevant authority decides that the person or his partner is entitled to housing benefit or council tax benefit and takes into account the increase of pension or benefit in making or superseding that decision; and

• (c) the person's election for an increase is changed so that he is entitled to a lump sum,

the relevant authority may revise the housing benefit or council tax benefit decision.

• (7DA) Where—

• (a) a person chooses to be paid a state pension under section 9 of the Pensions Act 2014 in accordance with section 8(2) of that Act;

• (b) the relevant authority decides that the person or his partner is entitled to housing benefit and takes into account the state pension under section 9 of that Act in making or superseding that decision; and

• (c) the person alters their choice under section 8(2) of that Act in accordance with Regulations made under section 8(7),

the relevant authority may revise the housing benefit decision.

• (7DB) Where—

• (a) a person, in accordance with Regulations made under section 10 of the Pensions Act 2014 which include provision corresponding or similar to section 8(2) of that Act, chooses to be paid a survivor’s pension based on inheritance of deferred graduated retirement benefit;

• (b) the relevant authority decides that the person or his partner is entitled to housing benefit and takes into account the survivor’s pension in sub-paragraph (a) in making or superseding that decision; and

• (c) the person alters their choice to be paid the survivor’s pension in sub-paragraph (a) in accordance with Regulations made under section 10 of the Pensions Act 2014 which include provision corresponding or similar to Regulations made under section 8(7) of that Act,

the relevant authority may revise the housing benefit decision.

• (7E) Where a court makes an order under section 71 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 and that order is set aside by the sheriff principal following an appeal under section 72(1) of that Act, a decision made in accordance with regulation 7(2)(a) may be revised at any time.

• (7F) Where a local authority has served a notice in accordance with section 94 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 and that notice is set aside by a court following an appeal under section 97(1) of that Act, a decision made in accordance with regulation 7(2)(a) may be revised at any time.

• (7G) Where the court makes a relevant order for possession, as defined in section 130C of the Contributions and Benefits Act (relevant orders for possession) and the order is set aside, a decision in accordance with regulation 7(2)(k) may be revised at any time.