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Petition update, 10 June 2009

More details from petition creator

Please retain the ability to backdate benefit claims for housing benefit and council tax benefit up to 52 weeks.

Despite civil service views that most landlords begin to tackle non-payment of rent within the first few weeks - my service deals with people everyday for whom the ability to backdate their claims 52 weeks, using 'good cause' is a life line.

In today's tightened finances it is vital that people are able to claim as much housing and council tax benefits as possible. Why would we seek to prevent someone claiming something which they're legally entitled to, but for restrictions on claiming?

The need to show 'good cause' already prevents many from accessing the full backdating and I cannot understand why the Government would want to make it more restrictive.

This is not a rule we should be scrapping. These are the sort of mean-spirited measures that plays into the hands of those who wish to portray the Government as having lost touch with ordinary people, forgotten the needs of the poor and the reason it sought Government in the first place.

Please stand up for those in desperate circumstances and retain this backdating rule.

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• sarah pugh
• ROS STINTON
• michael compton
• Caroline Brandwood
• Michelle Hadley
• lesley faithful
• Anna Thomas
• Robert Alexander
• Gordon Pankhurst
• Edward Watt
• Chris
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• MARK SHARPE
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