What to do if you think we are wrong
What to Do
When you receive the letter telling you how much benefit we are going to pay, if you think the benefit is wrong, you can ask us to look at our decision again.
Our contact details are found under the Where you can go for advice? section.
When you contact us you have a choice:
- You can ask us to explain how we made our decision
and/or
- If you want more information to help you decide what to do, ask us for a written statement of reasons for the decision. You must do this within a month of the date of the decision letter. We will send you our statement of reasons as soon as we can.
If you wish to dispute the decision you can either ask us to look again at the decision or appeal to an independent tribunal. This request must be made in writing, within a month of the date of the decision letter giving reasons why you think our decision is wrong.
Whether you ask us to look at the decision again or appeal against it we will arrange for your claim to be looked at by a different officer in the Council's Benefit Section. We will then send you a letter telling you if we are going to change the decision that we have made or if it will remain unchanged.
Appeal Tribunals
An independent tribunal of qualified legal members now hears appeals. They are people who are totally independent of Swale Borough Council.
If you want to know more about the appeals process we will be glad to send you a leaflet.
You can also download the leaflet 'What to do if you think our decision is wrong' at the bottom of this page.
Corporate Complaints Procedure
If you have any benefit matters, other than asking for your claim to be reviewed, that you are not able to resolve with the benefit team you can write to:
The Swale Arbitrator, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT
