Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her housing benefit payments. The Council was at fault. It took three months to process her change of circumstances between November 2017 and February 2018. The Council was not at fault for how it cancelled Miss X’s housing benefit in June 2018. I recommend the Council pays Miss X £150 to remedy the avoidable financial hardship, stress, uncertainty and time and trouble caused by the Council’s fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her housing benefit payments. Miss X complained the Council:
• took three months to process her housing benefit change of circumstances between November 2017 and February 2018.
• wrongly cancelled her housing benefit in May 2018.
• failed to properly consider her request to backdate her housing benefit to March 2018 following her new housing benefit claim in July 2018.
2. Miss X said the Council’s delays and faults caused her avoidable financial hardship, stress, uncertainty and time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Miss X about her complaint.
6. I considered the Council’s response to my enquiry letter.
7. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered the comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

Housing benefit

8. Housing benefit helps people on low incomes to pay their rent. It is a means tested benefit, taking both capital and income into account. Depending on the claimant’s means the benefit might not meet their entire rent amount. If this is the case the claimant is responsible for making up any shortfall.
9. Housing benefit can be paid direct to landlords at the request of the claimant. However, the claimant remains responsible for paying their rent.
10. Claimants are responsible for ensuring they update the council with any changes in their circumstances, failure to do so can affect the housing benefit paid.
11. When claimants tell the council about any changes in their circumstances, it may decide to suspend the payments while it considers the change, especially if it requires further information. The council can suspend payments if it thinks
• an overpayment has been made
• a change in circumstances affects the claim
• it requires additional information or evidence.
12. The council must write to claimants and explain the reasons if it suspends the payments.
13. The council can cancel benefit payments if claimants do not provide the required information or evidence within one month. The council must make decisions in writing. The notice must also advise claimants of their rights to ask for more information and to appeal. Claimants usually have 1 month to challenge and appeal a housing benefit decision although councils will sometimes consider late requests.

What happened

14. Miss X claims housing benefit which the Council pays directly to her landlord. In November 2017 Miss X told the Council about a change in her circumstances. The Council suspended Miss X’s housing benefit claim while it considered the change of circumstances to prevent any overpayments. The Council processed that change of circumstance in February 2018 and started paying Miss X’s housing benefit again.
15. Miss X’s partner is self-employed. In February 2018, the Council wrote to Miss X and asked for her partner to fill out a self-employment questionnaire to show his takings and expenses from the last financial year.
16. In April 2018 the Council wrote to Miss X and told her it had suspended her housing benefit because she had not sent the Council her partners self-employment information. The Council also wrote to Miss X’s landlord and told it the same information.
17. In May 2018 the Council wrote to Miss X and told her it had cancelled her housing benefit claim because she had still not sent the Council the information it asked for. The letter to Miss X told her she would need to make a new claim for housing benefit. The letter explained Miss X could appeal the decision within one month by writing to the Council to tell it why she disagreed.
18. Miss X complained to the Council in June 2018. Miss X complained the Council took over three months to process her change of circumstances. She said her landlord threatened her with eviction during that time. Miss X said she had spoken to a Council officer by telephone about her partners self-employment information. She said the officer told her she did not need to send the information as the Council already had up it. Miss X said the matter was causing her stress and upset.
19. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint in June 2018. It apologised it took three months to deal with Miss X’s change of circumstances request in November 2017. The Council said the delay was down to staffing levels. The Council said the previous self-employment information it held for Miss X’s partner was from 2016 therefore it said it required up to date information. The Council said it found no record of the telephone call Miss X referred to but said it would investigate if Miss X could give a specific time and date of the call. The Council said it followed the correct procedure and cancelled Miss X’s housing benefit because she did not send it the information it required. The Council said it did not receive any appeal request from Miss X.
20. Miss X wrote to the Council again in July 2018. Miss X said being without housing benefit between November 2017 and February 2018 caused her significant stress. Miss X said she spoke to the Council officer about her partners self-employment information using her mobile phone but did not have the call log anymore. Miss X said she wrote to the Council before the one-month deadline for an appeal. Miss X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage 2.
21. Miss X made a new claim for housing benefit in July 2018 and provided the Council with her partners self-employment information in August 2018. The Council assessed the claim in October 2018 and paid Miss X benefits from July 2018. Miss X asked the Council to backdate her claim to March 2018. The Council considered the request in December 2018 and refused it because Miss X had not shown it a good reason why she did not make the claim earlier.
22. The Council did not respond to Miss X until September 2018. It apologised for the delay in processing her change of circumstances. However, it said it was satisfied it suspended and cancelled her housing benefit in line with guidance and legislation because Miss X did not provide the information it asked for. The Council said the complaints procedure was not the correct channel to appeal a benefit decision.
23. Miss X remained unhappy with the Council’s handling of her housing benefit and complained to the Ombudsman.
24. In June 2019, I asked the Council to consider reassessing Miss X’s previous housing benefit claim for the period of April 2018 to July 2018 against the new self-employment information she provided in August 2018. The Council responded to me in June 2019 and said it had reopened and reassessed Miss X’s previous claim. In doing so the Council backdated Miss X’s housing benefit claim for the period March 2018 to July 2018 which created an underpayment of £1700.

My findings

25. Miss X provided the Council at its request with information about her change in circumstances in November 2017. The Council suspended Miss X’s benefit claim however it did not process the change until February 2018. That was fault and the delay caused Miss X avoidable financial hardship, stress and uncertainty.
26. Miss X said she spoke to a Council officer on the telephone who told her she did not need to provide her partners self-employment information. The Council had no record of a phone call from Miss X in the period she referred to, neither did Miss X. Therefore, that was not something I could resolve. However, the correspondence and evidence showed it wrote to Miss X on three occasions asking for her partners self-employment information which included a request when it suspended her claim. Miss X did not provide the information. Therefore, the Council was not at fault for cancelling her benefit claim.
27. The Council’s letter to Miss X cancelling her housing benefit claim was dated 8 May 2018. The letter stated Miss X should write to the Council and appeal if she disagreed with that decision within one calendar month. Miss X complained on 4 June 2018. Her complaint included a variety of issues concerning her housing benefit including the Council’s decision to cancel her housing benefit, but it did not explicitly state she was appealing the Council’s decision. It would have been good practice for the Council to clarify with Miss X whether it was an appeal or a complaint, given she sent it in response to the Council cancelling her benefit claim. However, as Miss X’s complaint was not clear that she wanted to appeal, I cannot say it was fault for not accepting it as an appeal.
28. In December 2018, the Council refused Miss X’s request to backdate her housing benefit for the period April 2018 to July 2018 because it was a late appeal. At that point the Council had her partners self-assessment information. Had it allowed her appeal, the Council would have backdated her benefit payment to a maximum of one month which was approximately £300. When it reassessed her claim in June 2019, the Council carried out a detailed interview with Miss X which allowed it to gather extra information to reassess her claim. By doing this it resulted in the Council awarding Miss X a payment of £1700 in benefit underpayments. Given the circumstances I find there was no fault in the Council’s handling of the matter
29. Miss X complained to the Council in June 2018 and asked it to escalate it to stage 2 in July 2018. The Council did not formally respond to Miss X at stage 2 until the end of September 2018. However, when Miss X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage 2 she sent it to the wrong email address which contributed to the delay. Therefore, the Council was not at fault for the delay.

Agreed action

30. The Council agreed within one month of the final decision to:
• pay Miss X £150 to recognise the avoidable financial hardship, stress and uncertainty caused by the delay in processing her housing benefit change of circumstances between November 2017 and February 2018.

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Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation. I found fault leading to injustice and the Council agreed to my recommendation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman