Manchester City Council (19 016 377)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 17-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment. This is because the complainant could have used her appeal rights and because it is a late complaint.

London Borough of Wandsworth (19 015 641)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 14-Feb-2020

Summary: The complaint is about the Council saying Mr B should repay housing benefit. The Ombudsman will not pursue this complaint. This is mainly because of Mr B’s right to appeal to a tribunal. There is also insufficient evidence the Council is demanding money it previously said was not owed.

London Borough of Barnet (19 015 463)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 13-Feb-2020

Summary: Ms B complains about the way the Council handled her application for Housing Benefit. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Ms B to warrant an investigation.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (19 004 179)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 12-Feb-2020

Summary: Miss B and Mr C complained that the Council refused to refund payments recovered from a debt which had been included in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. We find fault in the Council’s actions: it did not appeal against the outcome of the IVA but neither did it abide by the terms of the IVA and continued to recover the debt. The Council has agreed to refund the payments to the Insolvency Practitioner.

London Borough of Bexley (19 016 150)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 11-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to award a Discretionary Housing Payment. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

City of York Council (19 009 705)

Statement Not upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 10-Feb-2020

Summary: There is no fault in the Council’s decision to stop housing benefit when a related benefit claim was cancelled. The Council wrote to tell Mr B of the cancelled claim and overpayment but did not receive a response or appeal against the decision that he should repay the overpayment.

London Borough of Bromley (19 006 570)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 05-Feb-2020

Summary: Miss X complained the Council refused to award discretionary housing payment or properly considered her tenancy. We will not investigate the Council’s discretionary housing payment decision as this happened too long ago. There is no good reason to exercise discretion. It made a mistake in calculating her housing benefit, has apologised and made the correct payment, appropriately remedying injustice. It has tried to respond to her concerns about her tenancy agreement which are for the Housing Ombudsman

London Borough of Ealing (19 015 223)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 30-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s recovery of an overpayment of housing benefit. This is because if Miss X wants to challenge the Council’s decision it is reasonable for her to appeal to the tribunal.

Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 015 322)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 30-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s recovery of an alleged overpayment of housing benefit. This is because if Mrs X wants to challenge the Council’s decision it is reasonable for her to appeal to the tribunal.

Manchester City Council (19 014 667)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 28-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment because the matter has been considered by the tribunal.