Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council. incorrectly stopped her council tax support. It is reasonable for Ms X to ask the Council for a review and then appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if she is unhappy with the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council:
• Incorrectly stopped her housing benefit and council tax support.
• Failed to provide information she had asked for about downsizing.
• Issued a Notice of Seeking Possession after she accrued housing arrears.
• Failed to provide information she had asked for about the maintenance of communal areas.
2. Ms X said the Council’s actions had caused distress, financial hardship and affected her health. She wants the Council to apologise, reinstate her benefits and provide the information she has asked for.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
7. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
8. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council incorrectly stopped her housing benefit. The Council confirmed her housing benefit stopped in 2019 when it was replaced by Universal Credit. Any complaint about the Council stopping housing benefit is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider it now. In addition, universal credit (UC) is decided by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Any complaint about UC is outside our jurisdiction.
12. The Council stopped Ms X’s council tax support after the DWP said Ms X was no-longer eligible for UC. Ms X appealed the DWPs decision. In its complaint response, the Council said it will review its decision to stop Ms X’s council tax support and asked her for a copy of the Tribunal’s decision on her UC. If Ms X believes the Council’s decision to stop her council tax support was wrong, it is reasonable for her to ask for a review. She can then appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if she is unhappy with the outcome of the review.
13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council did not provide information about downsizing to her. The Council’s complaint response confirms it responded to her queries and information was also available on its website. It explained that information on specefic scenarios was not available, as each case was considered on an individual basis. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council responded to her requests for information to justify our involvement.
14. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council issuing a Notice of Seeking Possession, or how it provided information about the maintenance of communal areas. That is because Ms X is a social housing tenant. We have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of the Council when it is acting as a social landlord.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is reasonable for her to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if she is unhappy about how it considered her council tax support.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman