Summary: Miss B complains the Council failed to advise her that she needed to claim Universal Credit to get help with housing costs. The Ombudsman finds the Council did appropriately advise Miss B on this matter when it wrote to her within a reasonable time of receiving her claim form for housing benefit. Although Miss B did not receive the letter, that was not as a result of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss B, complains the Council failed to advise her that she needed to claim Universal Credit (UC) in order to get help with housing costs.

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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.
3. 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

4. I considered all the information provided by Miss B about her complaint. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered the information it provided in response. I provided Miss B and the Council with a draft of this decision and took account of all comments received in response.

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What I found

5. Miss B changed address In February 2018 and moved into the Council’s area. She reports that within a week of the move she went to the Council’s offices and collected a form to claim Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Reduction (CTR). Miss B says the officer at the desk said it could take six weeks before a claim would be processed. Miss B filled the form in at home on 2 March 2018 and submitted it by post. The Council received it on 12 March.

What happened next

6. The Council’s records dated 27 March 2018 show a new claim for CTR was registered from 12 March, and that a request for backdating was accepted to 26 February. The notes include the following “Advised claimant she will need to claim UC for help with rent”. The supporting evidence provided by the Council includes a copy of a letter dated 27 March advising Miss B that for help with rent she would need to make a claim for Universal Credit. A weblink to the online application site was provided. The letter was posted to Miss B’s address the following day. Miss B did not receive the letter.
7. The Council also wrote to Miss B on 27 and 28 March to advise her about her entitlement to CTR, including the backdating. She received that correspondence.
8. Miss B did not receive any correspondence relating to her claim for HB. However, as she understood a claim could take six weeks to process, she waited until that time had elapsed before contacting the Council to ask about it. She reports that she then telephoned the Council and was advised that she needed to claim UC for help with housing costs.
9. Miss B claimed and was awarded UC from 17 May 2018 and the Council received notice of this on 29 May 2018.

Analysis

10. The Council has no record of Miss B’s visit to the Council’s offices to collect the HB form. Usual practice would be for the issuing officer to initial and date the form at the point of issue, although the Council accepts this could be missed if its offices were very busy. Before the introduction of UC training was given to all customer advisors and staff are expected to note when a customer has come in, what they were informed of and what advise they were given about claiming UC or continuing to claim HB. Claim forms can also be downloaded from the Council’s website.
11. Without evidence either way I cannot reach a sound view about where Miss B got her form or what advice, if any, she was given if she collected it in person. However, I do not need to reach a view on this because the evidence does show the Council received Miss B’s form on 12 March and on 28 March posted to her its letter dated 27 March advising her she would need to claim UC. There was no unreasonable delay there. I accept that Miss C did not receive the letter, but it was correctly addressed, and non-receipt did not result from fault by the Council.
12. I acknowledge that Miss B had no help with her housing costs between 26 February and 16 May 2018. But as set out above, I cannot attribute that to fault by the Council.

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Final decision

13. I have completed my investigation on the basis set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman