London Borough of Hillingdon (21 012 673)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax support
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Jan 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s decisions on housing benefit and council tax support claims. The matter has already been considered by a tribunal and we have no discretion to consider anything related to it including the costs incurred by the complainant.
The complaint
- Ms Y says the Council wrongly refused her housing benefit and council tax support claim, then appealed against lower tribunal rulings in her favour. She says this was a breach of the Council’s own policies which caused her time and effort to pursue and has left her in financial difficulty.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms Y.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms Y says she would like the Council to reimburse her all the legal fees she had to pay to go to the lower tribunal and in defending against its appeal to the Upper Tribunal.
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate a matter where someone has already used a right to appeal to a court or a tribunal.
- It was open to Ms Y to have raised the issue of costs during the proceedings. It would have been a matter for the court to decide who should pay her costs.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint because the matter has already been considered by a tribunal and we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman