Archive has 228 results
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Central Bedfordshire Council (19 011 686)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 29-Nov-2019
Summary: Ms X complains about delays by the Council in determining her housing benefit. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because she has appealed to a tribunal.
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London Borough of Hillingdon (19 006 627)
Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 28-Nov-2019
Summary: There was fault in the Council’s handling of Ms B’s housing benefit claim which meant she did not receive the benefit to which she was entitled. The Council will apologise, make a payment to her and review its procedures
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London Borough of Enfield (18 008 431)
Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 27-Nov-2019
Summary: Ms X complained the Council incorrectly calculated her housing benefit. She said this caused her stress and financial loss. The Council was at fault for failing to pass Ms X’s request for appeal to the benefits tribunal. It has now agreed to do so.
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London Borough of Haringey (19 011 075)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 27-Nov-2019
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint that, when she was signing her new tenancy agreement, the body which manages the Council’s social housing did not tell her to make a new claim for universal credit for housing costs immediately, the Council failed to pay her removal costs and failed to backdate her housing benefit claim. This is because we cannot investigate her complaints about the Council’s social housing management service and it was reasonable to expect Miss B to use her right of appeal if she wanted to challenge the Council’s housing benefit decision.
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Birmingham City Council (19 011 119)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 27-Nov-2019
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this housing benefit complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because there is no meaningful outcome he could achieve for the complainant.
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Northumberland County Council (19 003 333)
Statement Not upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 27-Nov-2019
Summary: Mr B complains the Council did not consider his individual circumstances when it withdrew his housing benefit and did not tell him about his right of appeal. Mr B says this caused him financial hardship. The Ombudsman has not found fault with the Council. Mr B could have appealed to the Social Entitlement Chamber.
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London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 015 800)
Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 26-Nov-2019
Summary: The Council delayed and failed to act on information from a housing benefit claimant. It gave wrong information, took money when it should not have and did not advise the claimant of his appeal rights. The Council caused the claimant and his son significant time and trouble. It caused the claimant distress. To put this right the Council will apologise, pay back money it should not have taken and pay him for the time, trouble and distress it caused. It will also provide evidence it has correctly assessed the claim.
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Bath and North East Somerset Council (19 003 293)
Statement Not upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 25-Nov-2019
Summary: The complainant says the Council failed to properly consider whether she might be a ‘legacy benefits applicant’ when advising her to apply for Universal Credit. The Council says it advised the complainant to seek Universal Credit to help with her financial circumstances and told her about the advice services it offers so she could gain further advice. The complainant did not share any further information about her circumstances but applied for Universal Credit and lost her tax credit entitlement. This led to her being financially worse off. The Ombudsman finds the Council acted without fault in giving general advice and offering further advice through its advice centre which offers a ‘better off’ calculation when checking a person’s financial circumstances.
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Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 004 858)
Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 25-Nov-2019
Summary: Ms C complains about failings by the Council in its administration of claims she made for housing benefit and council tax support. We uphold the complaint finding the Council lost evidence provided by Ms C, delayed in reviewing her case and failed to take account of its own policy for recovering council tax. These faults caused Ms C distress and put her to unnecessary time and trouble. The Council accepts these findings and at the end of this statement we explain the action it has agreed to remedy this injustice.
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Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 21-Nov-2019
Summary: Miss B complains the Council transferred payments she made in 2016 to her council tax rather than her housing benefit account. Miss B complains that because of this error, her housing benefit overpayment was not cleared, and the Council is now chasing payment. During the investigation, the Council accepted it did not follow its procedure and has offered to write off the outstanding debt.