Summary: We cannot investigate part of this housing benefit complaint because the complainant appealed to the tribunal. We will not investigate another part of the complaint because the Council has offered a fair remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council has not followed the correct procedure in relation to her benefits. She says it misled the tribunal and failed to follow a tribunal decision. She wants the Council to award housing benefit and pay compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 an investigation if we believe the Council has provided a fair remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended)
4. The Social Entitlement Chamber (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers housing benefit appeals. (The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal)
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered some of the benefit decision letters and got some information from the Council. I considered comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

7. In September 2019 the Council cancelled Mrs X’s housing benefit and Council Tax Support (CTS) from 2015. This meant Mrs X had to repay benefit and council tax. Mrs X asked for a review. The Council reviewed the claim in January 2020 and confirmed its decision. It invited Mrs X to appeal to the tribunal.
8. Mrs X sent an email in which she referred to the tribunal. The Council treated this as an appeal request and passed the case to the housing benefit tribunal. It did not pass an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. Mrs X says she did not ask for an appeal.
9. The tribunal upheld Mrs X’s appeal in September. The Council asked the tribunal to set-aside the decision because it had not received notification of the hearing so could not attend. The tribunal agreed to set-aside the decision. Mrs X and the Council are waiting for a new hearing date.
10. The Council looked again at the CTS decision in November. It confirmed its decision to cancel the claim from 2015. It invited Mrs X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. It has not been notified that Mrs X has appealed.
11. The Council has placed recovery action for the housing benefit overpayment on hold. It has also suspended enforcement action for the council tax arrears until 31 March. The Council has waived £159 in court costs because of its failure to pass the appeal to the Valuation Tribunal in January. It also awarded £100 in compensation to Mrs X. It will use the compensation to reduce the arrears.

Assessment

12. Mrs X says the Council failed to review her claim before passing it to the tribunal. This is incorrect as I have seen the review decision. Mrs X also says she did not ask to go the tribunal. The email she sent after getting the review decision refers to the tribunal so I can understand why Council treated it as an appeal. Mrs X could have withdrawn her appeal from the tribunal if she did not want to proceed.
13. Mrs X says the Council must abide by the September tribunal decision because it is correct and says the Council was told of the hearing date. She also says the Council failed to follow the directions issued by the judge in September. The tribunal set-aside the September decision and listed the case for a fresh hearing. This means there is no September decision for the Council to implement. I appreciate Mrs X disagrees with the set-aside decision but the law says we cannot investigate any issue that has been considered by the tribunal and we cannot investigate a tribunal decision.
14. Mrs X has suggested the tribunal did not set the decision aside and/or she complains the tribunal will not give her the set-aside application. I have seen the set-aside decision so can confirm the tribunal made that decision. I cannot comment on whether the tribunal has disclosed information to Mrs X because the tribunal is not part of the Council.
15. The tribunal will make a new decision and decide if the Council was correct to end the housing benefit from 2015 and require Mrs X to repay the money. Mrs X can submit an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal regarding the ending of the CTS claim from 2015.
16. Mrs X says she will withdraw her tribunal appeal so we can deal with it. If Mrs X withdraws the appeal we will still not be able to investigate the complaint. This is because the matters have already been considered by the tribunal and because we cannot get involved once tribunal action has started. If Mrs X withdraws her appeal then nobody will consider her appeal and she will definitely have to repay all the benefit and council tax.
17. The Council made an error because it failed to process the CTS appeal. However, the Council has provided a fair remedy by cancelling some of the court costs and awarding compensation. It has also put recovery action on hold. This is a fair remedy. Mrs X says she does not accept the £100. Mrs X can contact the Council if she does not want it to use the £100 to reduce her arrears.

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Final decision

18. I cannot start and investigation because some of the issues have been considered by the tribunal and because the Council has provided a fair remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman