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Other council services
Benefit claims, grants, school transport, planning, appeals and anything else the council keeps you waiting for. Time it here.
The time limits
Where the law or government guidance sets a time limit, your record measures your wait against it. Where it does not, the waits people log are the only record.
| Waiting for | Time limit |
|---|---|
| Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction claim | The 14 days the law sets for a decision once the council has everything it needs |
| Disabled Facilities Grant (home adaptations) | The 6 months the law allows for a decision on a grant |
| School transport to start | No legal time limit |
| School transport review | The 20 working days government guidance sets for each stage of a review |
| Planning application decision | The 8 weeks allowed for most planning applications |
| School admission appeal | No legal time limit |
| Freedom of Information request | The 20 working days the law allows for an answer |
| Blue Badge | No legal time limit |
| A reply to a complaint | No legal time limit |
| Something else | No legal time limit |
Major planning applications have 13 weeks. School admission appeals are usually heard within 40 school days of the deadline for appealing, or 30 school days for a place during the school year. The sources are in "Your rights" below.
City of York Council
Nothing logged yet
Figures appear here once 10 people have logged a wait in the last year. Two dates are all it takes: the day you asked and the day you got an answer. Still waiting? Start a clock.
Enforcement agents sent by the council
Bailiffs work to fixed rules: 7 clear days' notice, visits between 6am and 9pm, a fixed scale of fees, and extra care for vulnerable people. The council that sends them is answerable for them.
Too few visits logged for City of York Council to show figures yet.
Had a visit? Check it against the rules
Dates, times and fees. Never the amount beyond a band, never why.
No reply yet
City of York Council has not replied. Every service named on this site can publish a response beside its figures.
Work for City of York Council? How to reply.
Other council services
What the service must do, or has promised
- Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction: 14 days. The council should decide a claim within 14 days of having all the information it needs, or as soon as reasonably practicable after that. Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, regulation 89
- Disabled Facilities Grant: 6 months. The council must tell you whether a grant is approved as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 6 months of a full application at the latest. Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 34
- Planning: 8 weeks. Most planning applications should be decided within 8 weeks, and major ones within 13, unless you agree to more time. Development Management Procedure Order 2015, article 34
- Freedom of Information: 20 working days. A council must answer a Freedom of Information request within 20 working days. Freedom of Information Act 2000, section 10
- School transport reviews. Government guidance sets 20 working days for the council to answer each stage of a review of a transport decision. GOV.UK: travel to school guidance
What you can do
- Appeal a planning delay. If the council has not decided your application in time, you can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate as if it had been refused. GOV.UK: appeal a planning decision
- Complain to the Information Commissioner. If a Freedom of Information request is late, ask the council for an internal review, then complain to the ICO. Information Commissioner's Office: make a complaint
- Complain, then go to the Ombudsman. For anything else, complain to the council first. If that does not put it right, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can investigate. It is free. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman: make a complaint
General information, checked against each source on 13 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Kept fair
- Dates only. We never ask your name, your address or the details of your case.
- The clock starts when you applied. For a benefit claim, start it on the day you gave the council everything it asked for, because that is when the law's 14 days start.
- Good and bad. A decision in a week counts as much as one that took a year.
- Nothing goes to the council. Logging here does not apply for anything.