Housing & Council Tax Benefits

Customer Contract

Our promise to you

Housing Benefit helps people on low incomes pay their rent. As a Council, we want to make sure that everyone who has a right to Housing Benefit is claiming it.

If you are claiming, we also want to make sure that:

• You are getting all the Housing Benefit you have a right to claim
• You can claim your Housing Benefit as quickly and easily as possible. You are always dealt with politely and quickly
• You know exactly what kind of service you can expect from us
• You know what you can do if you are not happy with the way you have been dealt with
• We listen to any complaints you have about our service. We put any problems right as quickly as we can

So we have drawn up our CUSTOMER CONTRACT.

This is our promise to you.

However, to keep this promise we need your help.

You must:

• Fill in and return your Housing Benefit application form to us as quickly as you can
• Make sure the information you give us is correct
• Send us any documents we need with your application form
• Tell us straight away if your circumstances change

Working out your claim

We will decide how much Housing Benefit you will get within 14 days of receiving all the information we need to do this.

Once we have worked out how much Housing Benefit you can claim, we will send you a letter within 14 days to tell you:

• How much Housing Benefit you will get
• How to find out how we made our decision. If you want more information about the way we reached our decision, we will send this to you within 14 days of your request
• What you should do if you are not happy with our decision

If we change the amount of Housing Benefit you get, or we stop your Housing Benefit, we will write to tell you. This letter will also tell you what to do if you do not agree with our decision.

If you come in to our office to ask us a question, we will give you an answer immediately if we can. If we can't, we will always give you an answer in writing within 14 days.

If we have paid you too much Housing Benefit for some reason, we will write to you within 14 days of making this decision. We will tell you:

• How much we have overpaid you
• Why we have overpaid you
• How long we have overpaid you
• How we will recover the money from you
• What to do if you do not agree with our decision

Giving you help and information

If you want to talk to someond about your Housing Benefit, you can come in to any of the offices listed at the end of this leaflet during office hours. When you arrive, we will see you within a few minutes.

If you prefer, you can make an appointment to come in to see us. We will arrange a time that suits you within three working days. When you arrive, one of our Housing Benefit Officers will see you within a few minutes of your appointment time.

If you are a new tenant, we will give you advice and information about Housing Benefit to make sure you know what you can claim and how you can claim it.

We will give you advice and help on where and how you can claim other state benefits, like Income Support or Family Credit.

We will provide a wide range of leaflets in all our offices about Housing Benefit to help you claim.

Dealing with you

You will always know the name of the person you are dealing with. We will be polite and helpful at times.

• We will only share the information you give us with people who need to know, for example, the Benefits Agency,
• When you come into our office, you can ask to see us in a private interview room. We will listen to any suggestions you have to improve our service. We will carry out regular surveys to find out what you think of our service.

Paying your Housing Benefit

If you are a Council tenant, your Housing Benefit will be taken off your rent every week. This will cut down the amount of rent you have to pay.

If you are a private tenant, you will receive you Housing Benefit every week, or every 4 weeks, depending on your circumstances. This will be paid by cheque to you directly or to your landlady or landlord.

If you don't agree with us

We will always do our best to make sure you are getting the correct amount of Housing Benefit. But if you are not happy with any decision we have made about your claim, you can ask us to look at it again. If you want us to do this, you must write to us within six weeks of our decision. We will then look at your claim and let you know what we have decided to do. We will also let you know what you can do if you are still not happy with the decision we have made.
If we have made a mistake, we will correct it straight away and pay any money we owe you.

If you have a complaint

If you are not happy about the way we have treated you, or the way we have dealt with your claim, please tell us. We will try to sort out the problem there and then. However, if we cannot sort it out straight away we will ask a senior member of our staff to look at your complaint and contact you within 14 days.

Getting independent advice

If you would like advice from someone who does not work for the council, you can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau:

Barra Citizens Advice Bureau (Western Isles)

Harris Citizens Advice Bureau (Western Isles)

Lewis Citizens Advice Bureau (Western Isles)

Uist Citizens Advice Bureau (Western Isles)