Julie wrote: Hello Gordon, Thank you for your e.mail, I have all my bank statements, though they are asking for receipts and the other thing is that I have been overseas for some time. There is no Welfare Advice in this area.
The problem is I won't survive without Housing Benefits and Council Tax.
Unfortunately there is little more advice that we can offer.
An appeal will be an administrative hearing and will only be concerned with the facts of the case (what you have spent your money on) and the law.
There is some discretion as to whether any particular item of expenditure is considered reasonable or not, but this assumes that you can identify what you bought. There is no list of what is reasonable.
Gordon