Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to deal with information she presented and failed to correctly calculate how much council tax she owed. During the course of this investigation, the Council recalculated Ms X’s entitlement to housing benefit and council tax support from April 2013 and Ms X has now used her right of appeal against the new determinations. The action taken by the Council is a suitable remedy for the complaint and the new rights of appeal used by Ms X mean any complaint about the amounts awarded fall outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has failed to correctly calculate how much council tax she owes.
2. She says she has incurred costs and suffered stress as a result of it wrongly taking recovery action.

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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. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. 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

6. As part of the investigation, 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;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• sent my draft decision to both the Council and the complainant and invited their comments.

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What I found

7. Ms X is a single parent with three daughters. Ms X claims housing benefit and council tax support. Due to the ages of her daughters and their changing circumstances, Ms X has to provide regular updates about their status and income. Ms X says despite providing information about the changes in circumstances the Council has failed to correctly assess her benefit entitlement.
8. Ms X says she has provided information to the Council more than once because it has not acted on it or it says it has not received it. Ms X says this has become increasingly frustrating.
9. The main issue seems to be the status of her oldest two children. During the period in question they have been to university, had periods in employment and periods of unemployment. Under benefit rules they are classed as non-dependents and depending on their status, a non-dependent deduction can be charged. This means the amount of benefit Ms X receives will be reduced as it is assumed the adult daughters are contributing to the household. This non-dependent deduction is made whether or not they actually make a financial contribution to Ms X.
10. On receipt of Ms X’s complaint, I made enquiries to the Council about her council tax for each year from 2013 onwards. The Council responded to my enquiries but also indicated it required further information to ensure Ms X’s entitlement had been correctly calculated. The Council wrote to Ms X detailing exactly what further information it required.
11. Ms X provided the information requested by the Council. It then completed a review of her housing benefit and council tax support entitlement for each year from April 2013 onwards. It wrote to Ms X with details of the new calculations. The outcome was a reduction in Ms X’s council tax support of £703.57 and a housing benefit overpayment of £2924.46. The Council provided Ms X with a breakdown of the calculations and reasons for the changes in entitlement. The Council’s letter also gave details of how Ms X could challenge the changes if she disagreed with them.
12. Ms X has now used her right of appeal against the decisions.

Analysis

13. Ms X complained because she disagreed with the Council’s calculations for the housing benefit and council tax support. Ms X said she had provided information to the Council about changes in her circumstances such as when her daughters went to university and when they started working.
14. The Council says that while it accepts Ms X believes she provided all the necessary information about changes in the family circumstances, it cannot find evidence it was provided. The Council has provided details of when Ms X visited its offices and explained about the changes in her circumstances. However, it cannot find evidence on its files to show Ms X forwarded the necessary evidence to it.
15. As a result of my enquiries to the Council, it has now carried out a complete review of Ms X’s entitlement. As part of this exercise Ms X provided all the information requested by the Council to enable it to complete its reassessment.
16. I am satisfied this was an appropriate action by the Council. It has now reassessed Ms X’s entitlement from April 2013 onwards and provided details of its calculations so Ms X can see what information has been taken into account.
17. This reassessment brings with it new rights of appeal and Ms X has now used them as she still disagrees with the Council’s calculations. I am satisfied this is the correct action for Ms X to take. The Ombudsman cannot determine the amount of benefit someone is entitled to, this is a decision for an independent tribunal. While I appreciate Ms X is unhappy the reassessment resulted in her owing more money than she previously did, the Ombudsman cannot take a view on whether the calculations are correct. By using her right of appeal, any complaint about the amount of benefit due is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
18. In response to my enquiries the Council identified failings by both Ms X and itself. It says it can understand why Ms X believed she had provided all the details needed to assess her council tax support but says there were times she did not provide the evidence requested.
19. Ms X has provided evidence which shows she has been unhappy with the Council’s calculations for quite some time. In August 2016 she sought assistance from a councillor and in 2018 she was receiving help from a benefits advisor.
20. Ms X says she repeatedly provided evidence of all her circumstances to the Council. I have seen some evidence to support this. I understand Ms X’s frustration about how this matter has been handled.
21. The Council accepts it missed opportunities to provide additional assistance to Ms X. It is aware of her health problems and of a traumatic family event that affected Ms X’s ability to manage these issues. It says there were opportunities for it to advise Ms X what further information she needed to provide to support her claim. This is fault.
22. While there is evidence the Council could have done more, I am not persuaded any further remedy is appropriate in this case. If Ms X has evidence which shows she submitted information to the Council at the time about changes in her daughters’ circumstances and it did not act on this, she can provide this to the tribunal as part of her appeal.
23. I am satisfied the Council’s actions in reviewing all Ms X’s entitlement back to April 2013 is a suitable remedy for her complaint. I can appreciate Ms X is not happy with the decisions made as this has resulted in changes to her entitlement and the money owed. However, the Council has provided a detailed explanation of how it has calculated Ms X’s entitlement and she has exercised her right of appeal regarding the new decisions. This process will give Ms X the opportunity to submit any evidence she has regarding those calculations and the tribunal will consider whether the Council has correctly calculated her entitlement. As Ms X has now appealed, I cannot consider any complaint about the amount of housing benefit or council tax support owed.

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Final decision

24. I will now complete my investigation as a suitable remedy has been provided and Ms X has exercised her right of appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman