Milton Keynes Council (18 017 676)

Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax support

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 29 Mar 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs X complained to the Council about the Housing Benefit overpayments it was asking her to repay. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because some of the repayments are from many years ago and would have had a right of appeal. There are not good enough reasons for the Ombudsman to exercise discretion to consider them. Additionally, it is unlikely an investigation would find fault or add anything to the Council’s own investigation.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X complains the Council should write off her Housing Benefit (HB) overpayments because if she got a Debt Relief Order (DRO) they would be eligible to be written off.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
  2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
  3. The law says we normally cannot investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a))
  4. The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers HB appeals. (The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal)
  5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely we would find fault, or
  • it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
  • it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered the information Mrs X gave to the Ombudsman in her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response to it.
  2. Mrs X had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

  1. Mrs X says she has complained to the Council several times because some of a HB overpayment was due to her ex-husband. She says there was not only this debt, but also an overpayment of £12,000 occurring while she was single mother.
  2. Mrs X says she was too scared to appeal against the debt when it first occurred.
  3. Mrs X accepts the Council classes some of the debt as fraudulent, because she did not tell it of a change in her circumstances. She complains the Council has accepted no responsibility for any of the overpayment she has been paying off for years.
  4. Mrs X says she cannot work as she is disabled. She asked the Council to write off the debt not classed as fraudulent because her financial situation was so bad.
  5. Mrs X accepts the Council has temporarily reduced the payments while she tries to get a DRO. She says her debts are above the threshold to get a DRO.
  6. Mrs X says the Council should write off her debt because the fact she cannot get a DRO is evidence she is in serious financial difficulty. She says the Council should realise if she could get a DRO the debt would be written off anyway.
  7. The Council has investigated Mrs X’s complaint. It has explained the outstanding overpayment dates to 2004, and there is a maximum period of 13 months to disagree with any decision it makes about HB claims. The Council said Mrs X’s overpayments resulted from her errors or because of fraud and were recoverable.
  8. The Council said it would look at the choices available for the outstanding HB overpayment once it received proof Mrs X had gained a DRO. Because of her financial hardship it decided to reduce the overpayment recovery rate for three months to allow for processing of the DRO.

Analysis

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 requires people to complain to us within 12 months about something a council has done. The events Mrs X complains about happened more than 12 months ago. The complaint is therefore late.
  2. The Ombudsman has discretion to investigate late complaints if there are good reasons to do so. I have decided not to exercise discretion in this case. This is because some of the overpayments Mrs X complains about are from over 14 years ago.
  3. From the evidence I have seen the Council has investigated Mrs X’s complaint and she owes the overpayments. It has offered to reduce her repayments to allow her to get a DRO. This is what the Ombudsman would expect from an investigation.
  4. We cannot ask the Council to write off the debt. It is applying the legislation and has rightly taken the action it can to help Mrs X. There is no fault here.

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Final decision

  1. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is made late and Mrs X did not exercise her right of appeal. There are no good reasons to exercise discretion and consider it.
  2. Additionally, it is unlikely an investigation would find fault or add anything to the Council’s own investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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