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

Revision of decisions E+W+S

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) [F1 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 in regulation 18 or, in a case to which regulation 19 applies the time prescribed in that regulation, 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[F2 , 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 [F3 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 M1 or the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) (Scotland) Order 1997 M2 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 an appeal tribunal, Commissioner 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.

[F4 (7A) Where a court convicts a person of an offence, that conviction results in a restriction being imposed under section 7, 8 or 9 of the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 (loss of benefit provisions) and that conviction is quashed or set aside by that or any other court, a decision of the relevant authority made in accordance with regulation 7(2)(g) or (h) may be revised at any time.]

[F5 (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 to an increase in the rate of that relevant 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]

(8) An application for a revision shall be made in writing and delivered, by whatever means, to the relevant authority F6 ....

(9) The relevant authority may treat an application for a supersession as an application for a revision.

(10) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of a change of circumstances which occurred since the decision [F7 had effect] or where the relevant authority has evidence or information which indicates that a relevant change of circumstances will occur.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 4(1)(a) inserted (20.5.2002) by Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1379), regs. 1(1), 24

F2 Words in reg. 4(3) inserted (17.11.2003 reg. 1(1), Sch. 1) by Housing Benefit (General) (Local Housing Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2399), reg. 16(2)

F3 Words in reg. 4(3) substituted (17.11.2003 reg. 1(1), Sch. 1) by Housing Benefit (General) (Local Housing Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2399), reg. 16(3)

F4 Reg. 4(7A) inserted (1.4.2002) by Social Security (Loss of Benefit) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/490), regs. 1(1), 9(a)

F5 Reg. 4(7B)-(7C) inserted (6.10.2003) by The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (State Pension Credit and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2275), regs. 1(1)(b), 5(3)

F6 Words in reg. 4(8) omitted (30.9.2002) by virtue of Social Security (Jobcentre Plus Interviews) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1703), reg. 1, Sch. 2 para. 8(b)

F7 Words in reg. 4(10) substituted (18.3.2005) by The Social Security, Child Support and Tax Credits (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/337), regs. 1, 3(2)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Reg. 4(1)(a) excluded (2.7.2001) by The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) (Transitional and Savings) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/1264), regs. 1(1), 2(1)

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1997/1984, amended by S.I. 2000/1.

M2 S.I. 1997/1995, amended by S.I. 2000/3.