For HB to be paid for any period the claimant must have a 'live' claim.
This can be a problem when claimants are away from home, especially if they have notified the DWP / Job Centre of a different address. This is because the DWP / Job Centre will send a cancellation notice to the HB Office who will then suspend the HB claim and write to the claimant at their last known address.
If the claimant fails to respond within a calendar month, the claim for HB is terminated.
If this happened the claimant must either ask for the decision to end HB to be revised, or submit a new claim and request a backdate. Be aware though that for working age claimants the maximum backdate from date of request is only one month, and they will only be able to make a new claim for HB if they are in one of the categories of people who can claim HB rather than having to claim UC.
Please click on the following link for alternatives to backdating.