R Otobo v Slough Borough Council
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Philippa Whipple |
| Judgment Date | 17 October 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] EWHC 4833 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 17 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | CO/3122/2014 |
[2014] EWHC 4833 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Philippa Whipple QC
(Sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)
CO/3122/2014
The Claimant did not attend and was not represented
Mr L Glenister (instructed by the Slough Borough Council) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
THE DEPUTY JUDGE: I have before me a renewed application for permission in this case brought by the claimant who has not attended before me today, although he has submitted lengthy grounds seeking judicial review of the defendant's decision dated 20 June 2014 refusing his claim for housing benefit. I have been much assisted by counsel for the respondent local authority, Mr Glenister. In the circumstances I propose to give a short ruling on the application. I am going to dismiss the application and refuse permission. I am going to give short reasons for doing so.
Before I do that, I am going to deal with an issue about the defendant's acknowledgement of service. There was an order that the defendant serve an acknowledgement of service by 4.00 pm on 15 August 2004. That is the date on which the defendant's acknowledgement of service is date stamped, and it was, in my judgment, served on time. The claimant has argued in correspondence that it was served a few minutes late. If it was, and I have no evidence that it was, and I have no hesitation in agreeing with Lewis J who granted any necessary extension of time. And so the acknowledgement of service is properly before the court today and has provided help to the court.
Turning to the relevant facts, it appears that the claimant sought advice from the defendant about his benefits situation were he to become a full time student. That advice was sought at some point in the middle of 2013. (I only have the documents that the claimant has provided, and others that have been provided by the defendant.) The claimant's claim seems to start with a letter dated 17 June 2013 from the local authority thanking him for his correspondence in relation to his impending student status and how it will affect his benefits. And it said this:
"I wish to advise you that in your case as long as you are on Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, you will be classed as an eligible student and you will continue to receive help with your Housing Benefit."
The defendant did not, in that letter, draw any distinction between Employment and Support Allowance based on the claimant's past contributions, which is in fact the type of Employment and Support Allowance which the claimant has been credited with, and the higher level of Employment and Support Allowance which might be based on the claimant's income, which the claimant has not been credited with. The reason he has not been credited with the higher level of ESA is that he has taken out student loans, which take him above the income threshold; this means that the only ESA to which he is entitled is a contributions-based allowance.
It appears that some time after that letter was sent the claimant became a full time student and applied for benefits. He was sent a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions ("DWP") dated 9 December 2013, which enclosed forms for him to claim both ESA and Housing Benefit. As to the Housing Benefit, the letter said this:
"Housing Benefit may be payable to those who rent their property, have savings of less than £16,000 and have a low income or no income other than benefits."
So that, at the very least, would or should have put the claimant on notice that the position for Housing Benefit was not going to be straightforward if he had in his name student loans which might or could count as income.
The claimant's application was answered on 4 February 2014. The DWP awarded him ESA at the rate of £71.70 a week. That letter from the DWP is not itself easy to understand, and refers to an income related amount. But it also indicates that the ESA has been awarded on the basis of the claimant's contribution records.
In February 2014 the claimant made an application to the defendant for Housing Benefit. That request was refused on grounds that the claimant was a full time student in receipt of a student loan.
On 7 April 2014 the claimant wrote to the defendant asking for Housing Benefit to be paid and included documents proving his...
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