Warrington Council (18 018 151)

Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 11 Jun 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Miss B complained about the actions of the Council in recovering a housing benefit overpayment by an attachment of earnings. She says this is causing her financial hardship and is unfair. We find no fault with the actions of the Council.

The complaint

  1. Miss B complains that Warrington Council (the Council) proceeded with an attachment of earnings to recover a housing benefit overpayment from 2015 which she disputed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), 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

  1. I have considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant, made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided. I have written to Miss B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

  1. In March 2015 the Council notified Miss B that she had been overpaid housing benefit since 2014 because she had not informed the Council she had started working.
  2. The Council also notified her of her right of appeal against the overpayment. Miss B did not appeal but said she would repay the debt in instalments. She had difficulty paying and in July 2018 started claiming housing benefit again. The Council recovered the overpayment from her housing benefit.
  3. Miss B also attended an interview under caution in June 2015 and agreed to an administration penalty of £775 as an alternative to prosecution for fraud. The Council says she signed a document agreeing to this.
  4. The Council continued to recover the debt from her ongoing housing benefit until May 2017 when it started to issue reminders for payment again. In August 2017 Miss B asked the Council to remove the administration penalty and she would reach an agreement to repay the overpayment. The Council refused to remove the penalty.
  5. It continued to issue reminders over the next twelve months. In July 2018 it said if she agreed to a repayment plan it would not seek recovery of the administration penalty. In December 2018 it sent a letter to Miss B saying it would apply for an attachment of her earnings within 21 days, if she did not agree a repayment plan. Miss B contacted the Council following receipt of the letter and the Council agreed to hold recovery until 10 January 2019.
  6. It issued a reminder on 14 January 2019 and then set up the attachment of earnings in February 2019.
  7. Miss B complained to the Ombudsman saying the Council was harassing her for the debt and it had not removed the administration penalty. She also said it had not answered her queries about the overpayment and not notified her of the attachment of earnings. She said she was forced to agree to the administration penalty as a conviction for fraud would have affected her employment.

Analysis

  1. Miss B had a right of appeal against the overpayment in 2015 which she did not use. The decision letters explained the periods and amounts of the overpayment. I consider she had a reasonable opportunity in 2015 to ask for an explanation and appeal against the decision.
  2. Miss B agrees that she accepted an administration penalty rather than be prosecuted for fraud. If she disagreed with it she should have disputed the action at the time. It is too late to investigate that process now, nearly four years later.
  3. The Council is entitled to recover the penalty in addition to the overpayment. The Council has tried to reach agreement with Miss B to repay the debt, recognising she is in financial hardship. In July 2018 it offered to not recover the penalty if she agreed to a plan to repay the overpayment. As Miss B did not respond to this request it went ahead and recovered the debt by other means. It notified Miss B of its intention to apply for an attachment of earnings and gave her more time to pay. I cannot find fault with its actions.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation into this complaint as I am unable to find fault causing injustice in the actions of the Council towards Miss B.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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