Birmingham City Council (19 013 092)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 22-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to communicate with him about his tenants’ housing benefit. The Ombudsman finds there was fault by the Council which caused Mr X time and trouble. The Council agreed to our proposed remedies.

Leicester City Council (20 001 093)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 22-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about housing benefit overpayments. This is because it is a late complaint and because the complainant could have used her appeal rights. In addition, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Leeds City Council (20 000 287)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 21-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about housing benefit and other issues. This is because he has appealed to a tribunal against the Council’s housing benefit decision, he did not make part of his complaint to us in time and it is unlikely an Ombudsman investigation into the other parts of his complaint would achieve anything significant for Mr B.

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (19 019 526)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 09-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the complainant’s housing benefit. This is because the complainant has appealed to the tribunal.

London Borough of Redbridge (19 008 985)

Statement Not upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 02-Jul-2020

Summary: Ms B complains that the Council has mishandled her housing benefit claim including losing her documents, carrying out an unnecessary review and delaying in releasing payments. The Ombudsman finds no fault on the Council’s part.

East Staffordshire Borough Council (19 004 983)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 01-Jul-2020

Summary: Miss K complains about the Council’s decisions on her housing benefit claim. And about the way it recovered overpayments and refused claims for discretionary housing payments. The Ombudsman cannot look at the housing benefits decisions. But we do uphold the complaint about part of the way the Council recovered the overpayment.

London Borough of Haringey (18 007 364)

Statement Not upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 30-Jun-2020

Summary: There was no fault in the way the Council handled Mr B’s claims for housing benefit and council tax support.

London Borough of Haringey (19 018 766)

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

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council taking too much repayment through her housing benefit on two separate occasions. This is because it is reasonable to expect Miss X to have appealed against these decisions and the complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit. Any issue with Ms X’s landlord is a matter for the Housing Ombudsman.

Durham County Council (19 007 649)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 26-May-2020

Summary: The Council failed to tell Mrs X she should claim universal credit not housing benefit. Mrs X missed out on six weeks of help with her housing costs. The Council will apologise to Mrs X and reimburse her the money she lost.

London Borough of Haringey (19 021 067)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 06-May-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms C’s complaint about housing benefit and council tax overpayments. This is because it would be reasonable for Ms C to appeal to the Social Entitlement Chamber regarding the housing benefit, and she has already appealed to the valuation tribunal regarding her council tax.