Summary: The Council continually asked Mr X for information for his housing benefit and council tax support claims. It made errors in its decisions and asked for information Mr X had already given or it did not need. It did not give Mr X a decision on his review request. The Council’s action mean it has not paid Mr X’s claims since December 2016. It has put Mr X to considerable distress, including council tax enforcement action. To put this right the Council will reassess the claims from December 2016 using the correct information. It will also make a significant payment for the distress it caused Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council:

• Has failed to pay him housing benefit and council tax support since December 2016;
• Keeps asking him for the same information and asks for information that is not necessary;
• Delayed dealing with his claims and made mistakes in assessing them;
• Did not give him a decision on his review requests.

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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. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. The Social Entitlement Chamber (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers housing benefit appeals. (The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
7. 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

8. I considered the information and complaint from Mr X and discussed the complaint with him. I asked the Council for information and considered what it provided.
9. I have considered the complaint from October 2016. This is because the issue Mr X complains about started then and is not yet resolved.
10. As the Council did not give Mr X a review decision, I have exercised discretion and considered the content of benefit decision notices.
11. Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of my decision. I considered the comments they made before I reached a final decision.

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What I found

Housing benefit and council tax support

12. The Housing Benefit regulations are the same for every council.
13. A council calculates housing benefit by comparing the claimant’s income to the money the Government says the claimant needs to live on. This includes “premiums” for dependent children and disability.
14. The council also calculates what capital a claimant has. Claimants with capital over £16,000 cannot claim housing benefit. A property owned, but not occupied, by the claimant counts as capital. A council works out the value by getting a valuation and reducing this by any debt secured against the property and sales costs. If the claimant rents out a property, the council calculates the income from this as the rent minus any mortgage payment
15. A claimant is not eligible for housing benefit if their rent agreement is non-commercial. The council must consider if the agreement has terms that are not legally enforceable. It must consider all relevant matters not just the family or financial relationship between landlord and tenant.
16. A council can ask a claimant for information it reasonably requires when assessing a claim for housing benefit. The claimant has one month to provide the information, or longer if this is reasonable.
17. A council cannot demand that a claimant must attend an interview for a benefit claim. (R v Liverpool City Council ex parte Johnson 1994)
18. Once a council starts to pay housing benefit the claim remains in payment until the claimant is no longer entitled to benefit. A claimant does not have to renew the claim yearly. The claimant must tell the council about certain changes in circumstances and the council will then revise the decision. A council can decide to revise a claim at any time.
19. A council should make its decision on a housing benefit claim within 14 days of having the information it needs or as soon as possible after that.
20. A claimant has a right of appeal against most housing benefit decisions. A council must give decisions in writing.  If the decision is a claimant does not qualify for benefit, the notice must give reasons for this. The council’s notice must also advise claimants of their rights to ask for more information and to appeal.
21. The claimant can first ask the local authority to 'reconsider' (internally review) its decision. There is then a right of appeal to the independent benefits tribunal.
22. The Government says if a Council decides someone does not qualify for benefit, it should not ask the claimant for more information about the period when he is not entitled. (Social Security Claims and Payments Regulations 1987)
23. A council can recover an overpayment of housing benefit unless it made an error and the claimant could not have realised this.
24. When a council notifies a claimant of an overpayment it must provide certain information, including the reason for the overpayment.
25. Every council decides its own council tax support scheme. Boston Borough Council’s scheme will pay a maximum of 75% of the council tax to claimants of working age and not receiving certain disability benefits.
26. The Council’s scheme mirrors the housing benefit regulations for calculating income and capital.
27. If the claimant disputes the council tax reduction the council gives, he can ask the council to review the decision. If the council does not change its decision, the claimant can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
28. HMRC issues a P60 as a summary of the wage slips someone has received in a financial year. It will say how much the person has earned and how much tax they paid. If someone does not get wage slips, they do not get a P60. People pay National Insurance on wages above £166 a week. People pay income tax on earnings above their personal allowance. In 2016 the personal allowance was £11,000 a year.

What happened

Background

29. Mr X owns a house which he rents out as it is too small for his family. Mr X’s adult daughter owns a house but lives abroad. Mr X rents his daughter’s house from her. Mr X works for his brother’s company, he is paid in cash and does not get wage slips. Mr X does not earn enough to pay income tax and national insurance. He gets working and child tax credits, including a disability premium. He gets the disability premium because he suffers from chronic pain.
30. Mr X claimed housing benefit and council tax support. The Council no longer has his original claim form and supporting documents. However, I have seen revised decisions from 2016 that show Mr X told it about his earned income and income from the house he rents out.
31. The Council knows Mr X’s landlord is his daughter. It did checks when Mr X claimed housing benefit and decided it was a commercial letting.
32. When the Council revised Mr X’s claim following a change of circumstances, it sometimes removed the disability premium. It then said it had paid Mr X too much benefit. Mr X would then have to resend the proof of his entitlement to a disability premium.

What happened

33. In 2016 the Council decided to review some claims to see if the information it had was still correct. One of the claims it chose to review was Mr X’s.
34. On 5 October 2016 the Council asked Mr X to complete a review form within one month. The review form asked Mr X to provide proof of any changes in his circumstances.
35. Mr X completed the review form and sent the Council a copy of his most recent tax credit award letter and bank statement. Mr X told the Council again about the house he owned and that he rented it out. He said how much rent he charged and the mortgage he paid. These were not changes in Mr X’s circumstances. The Council stamped this as received on 4 November 2016.
36. In late 2016 Mr X had a heart attack and needed open-heart surgery.
37. On 15 November the Council asked Mr X to provide his P60s for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. It also asked for five consecutive wage slips, proof of the rent he received and mortgage he paid; and 2 months bank accounts for accounts held by Mr and Mrs X.
38. Mr X says he provided this information in December 2016. The Council has no record of this.
39. On 20 December 2016 the Council suspended Mr X’s housing benefit claim. It sent another letter asking for the information by 20 January 2017 otherwise it would cancel the claim.
40. The Council cancelled Mr X’s claim for council tax support from 1 April 2016. It said this was because Mr X had not provided information it had asked for. It said it had overpaid Mr X £812.49 council tax support. It added this to his council tax account, putting it into substantial arrears. It did not send Mr X information about how it had recalculated his council tax support from 1 April 2016.
41. The Council started enforcement action over the council tax arrears and summonsed Mr X to court.
42. Mr X went to the Council’s office on 27 January to ask what had happened to the documents he provided in December. The Council said it had not received them. It apologised to Mr X for the inconvenience of providing the documents again. It asked for the documents in fourteen days. Mr X told the Council about his recent heart attack.
43. On 13 February 2017 Mr X told the Council he did not get wage slips. He provided a copy of the tenancy agreement for the house he owns and the mortgage payments on it. He provided his bank statement for November 2016 to January 2017.
44. The Council again asked for Mr X’s P60s. It also asked for his employer to complete a certificate of earnings. It wanted the information within two weeks. Mr X told the Council his employer was away until 10 March and he would supply the information as soon as possible after that. Mr X provided the certificate of earnings on 10 March. He also provided his tax credit award showing his income.
45. On 14 March 2017 the Council asked Mr X to fill in a form about the house he owns. Mr X retuned the completed form to the Council on 24 March.
46. On 4 April the Council asked the district valuer to value the house. The district valuer replied on 8 May.
47. The Council sent its decision to Mr X on 8 June 2017. It said he did not qualify for housing benefit from 5 December 2016 because he had too much capital because of the house he owns. It said Mr X had capital of £21,678 in the house. The Council reinstated Mr X’s council tax support for 1 April to 5 December 2016. It said after 5 December 2016 Mr X did not qualify for council tax support because of his capital.
48. The Council says there was no delay in giving Mr X a decision on the reviewed claim. It says Mr X provided the information in batches and it made its decision within one month of receiving the final piece of information.
49. Mr X wrote to the Council to ask what was going on. He said he was stressed, having sleepless nights and in danger of losing his home. He said all this had happened because the Council lost information he sent it. The Council replied it had cancelled his claim because he had capital in the house he owns. It said it had taken the outstanding mortgage and selling costs away from the value and this left Mr X with £21,678 capital.
50. Mr X has a second charge on the house for £60,000, so has negative equity. He asked the Council if this made a difference. The Council asked for proof of this and on 21 September 2017 Mr X provided this. The Council accepted he had no capital from the house.
51. The Council decided before it would assess Mr X’s claim it wanted to know if he had paid rent. It wrote to Mr X asking if he had rent arrears and proof of any payments he made after 5 December 2016. Mr X replied he had paid the rent by borrowing money and because his wife started working in April 2017 earning £50 a week.
52. On 19 October 2017 the Council asked Mr X for proof he had paid the rent. It also asked for Mrs X’s employment contract and wage slips from when she started working.
53. Mr X sent the Council an email from his daughter’s letting agent confirming his rent was up to date. He asked the Council’s advice about providing proof of his wife’s income as she was self-employed.
54. On 1 December 2017 the Council wrote to Mr X about how he had met his rental liability of £6,050 when not receiving housing benefit. It wanted Mr X to say within fourteen days who he had borrowed the money from. It also wanted Mr X’s bank statements from 5 December 2016 onwards. Mr X replied he borrowed the money in cash from his brother, so it would not show in his bank account. He offered to get a letter from his brother to confirm this. On 20 February 2018 the Council said it still wanted his bank statement.
55. On 5 March 2018 Mr X provided his bank statements from December 2016 to March 2018.
56. On 20 March 2018 the Council asked Mr X for Mrs X’s bank accounts from December 2016 and it asked Mrs X to complete a self-employment form. It wanted Mr X’s brother to confirm how much he lent Mr X, how often and the repayment arrangements. It wanted Mr X’s pay slips from January 2017. It also asked questions about some transactions.
57. In April Mr X answered the questions about the transactions. He provided his wife’s current and business bank account statements from December 2016 to March 2018. Mrs X completed a self-employed income information form. This said she was not registered for VAT. Mrs X gave details of her business income and expenditure from April 2017 to April 2018. The form said the Council wanted to see proof of this. It suggested documents it would accept, this included bank statements. Mrs X told the Council the business closed on 31 March 2018.
58. Mr X provided a letter from his brother saying he had lent Mr X £500 a month since January 2017.
59. On 4 June 2018 the Council assessed Mr X’s housing benefit and council tax support from 5 December 2016. It said he did not qualify because he had capital of £21,678 from the house he owns. In the new decisions the Council removed Mr X’s disability premium from 5 April 2017.
60. The Council said it owed Mr X £6.67 housing benefit for 3 to 5 April 2017. For those three days the Council removed the capital for the house from the assessment. The Council said Mr X’s weekly income was £362.47. It said Mr X had £91.34 earned income after an income disregard and £183.23 tax credits. This adds up to £274.97, not £362.47
61. £125 minus £37.10 is £87.90, not £91.34. In some of the decisions the Council says the income disregard for Mr X is £27.10 a week. It still decided this made his net income £91.34. the Council carried these mistakes forward in all the decisions it made on 4 April 2018 for the period 5 December 2016 to 1 April 2018. It then added £999 weekly miscellaneous income for Mr X.
62. It said it would not pay the £6.67 unless Mr X provided further information within two weeks. The Council wanted to know what Mrs X’s income was from 31 March 2018. It wanted all Mrs X’s business account statements from the day she opened the account. It wanted to know when Mrs X opened the business.
63. The Council paid the £6.67 on 8 June 2018.
64. Mr X replied on 15 June. He said his wife started the business in March 2017 and had no income after it closed on 31 March. He told the Council his wage increased to £135 a week in April 2018 in line with the minimum wage.
65. On 15 June the Council reassessed Mr X’s claim for the 3 and 4 April 2017. It said it had overpaid Mr X by £0.54. The reason it gave for the overpayment arising is “other”. The Council invoiced Mr X for £0.54. I have compared the two decisions and the reason the Council recalculated is it did not include the income Mr X received for his property in the original decision.
66. On 20 June 2018 the Council asked Mr X for his wage slips from 1 April 2018 as they were not on the HMRC site. In July Mr X provided a letter from his brother’s company saying it had paid him £135 a week since April. He told the Council Mrs X would start working again in July.
67. On 31 July the Council again asked Mr X for his wage slips or contact of employment. It also wanted up to date statements on the three bank accounts.
68. Mr X sent the Council bank statements up to August 2018. He said Mrs X was self-employed for two days a week and earning about £60 a week. He said he did not have a contract of employment or wage slips.
69. On 5 September the Council asked Mr X for proof of the account his wages go into. It wanted to know where Mr X got cash from to pay into his account. It wanted to know how his brother paid him to help toward the rent. It wanted a new self-employment form completing for Mrs X.
70. Mr X responded his brother lent him cash towards the rent but had stopped doing this because Mr X could not pay him back. He said he is paid cash for his employment. He explained where the cash paid into his account came from, some of it was his wages. He returned the completed self-employment form and said it was difficult to do as the business was new and this made it difficult to estimate the income and expenditure.
71. On 17 October 2018 the Council wrote to Mr X. It said he had failed to provide information the Council had asked for. It said he had not provided evidence to support the figures in the self-employment form. It said he had not provided evidence on where the cash deposits came from. It said it would take no further action on his claim.
72. The Council accepts it had not asked Mr X for any supporting evidence for the cash transactions.
73. On 30 October Mr X complained. He says he wanted the Council to pay the claim from December 2016. The Council decided to reconsider Mr X’s claim.
74. On 22 November 2018 the Council replied to Mr X. It said it had reassessed his claim from 1 April 2018 to 1 July 2018 and Mr X was entitled to housing benefit and council tax support between those dates. It said Mr X must provide it with bank statements for him and Mrs X up to August 2018 before it would pay housing benefit.
75. The Council now says it had the information for Mr and Mrs X’s current accounts until the end of July 2018. It says it did not have statements from Mrs X’s business account from 1 April 2018 onwards.
76. The Council said Mr X was not entitled to housing benefit or council tax support from 1 July 2018 as the family had too much income. It asked Mr X if he wanted it to look at the claim from 5 December 2016 to 1 April 2018. It said if he did the Council might need more information from him or to meet with him.
77. The Council did not send Mr X a new decision for April to July 2018.
78. The Council sent Mr X a new decision for 1 July 2018 onwards. It had removed Mr X’s disability premium from its calculations.
79. On 30 November 2018 Mr X sent an email to the Council. He asked it to check its recent decision as it had removed his disability premium. He said he had already provided all bank statements up to August 2018 but would provide them again if the Council had lost them. He said of course he wanted the Council to look at the claim from December 2016 to April 2018 as he had tried to get the Council to do this for two years.
80. The Council replied on 12 December. It said it had not included the disability premium. To reinstate this, it wanted Mr X’s most recent tax credit letter showing he had the disabled element. It said Mr X had only provided bank statements up to February 2018 and needed to provide statements for all three accounts from March to August 2018. It invited Mr X to a meeting at its offices on 9 January 2019.
81. On 7 January 2019 Mr X provided bank statements up to the beginning of July 2018 and the first two pages of his most recent tax credit letter showing he received the disability element.
82. The Council did not pay Mr X the housing benefit for April to July 2018
83. Mr X could not make the appointment on 9 January 2019. He says this was one of the days his chronic pain condition flared up. He let the Council know.
84. The Council emailed Mr X. It asked him to arrange a new appointment urgently. It said Mr X must make the appointment in the next week. It said it now wanted statements for all three bank accounts for February to December 2018. It also wanted the full tax credit letter to see how HMRC had calculated the award. It noted the tax credit letter said Mrs X worked 40 hours a week. It gave Mr X seven days to provide the information. Mr X says he did not spot this email at the time.
85. The Council followed up the email with a letter giving the same information on 10 January.
86. On 18 January the Council wrote again to Mr X. It said he had not provided information, only partially answered questions and failed to attend an interview. It said it had insufficient information to deal with his appeal. It said he was now out of time for housing benefit and now had to apply for universal credit for housing costs. It said he must make a new claim for council tax support.
87. On 1 February Mr X emailed the Council to say he had just received the letters of 10 and 18 January as the Council had used the wrong postcode. He asked the Council to either reconsider his appeal or tell him how to take it to the next stage.
88. The Council replied by email on 5 February 2019. It accepted it used the wrong postcode. It said Mr X had seven days to provide information it asked for on 9 January. It said Mr X must meet the Council to discuss his claim in the next week. It said if he did not do this it would close his claim. It said if he did not provide the information the Council could submit his appeal on the information he had already provided. It told Mr X he could complain to us.
89. Mr X says he does not check his emails often and so again did not see this email.
90. On 12 February Mr X asked the Council for our details.
91. On 12 February the Council wrote to Mr X. It said it did not have enough evidence to deal with his claim or appeal. It said it would take no further action.
92. The Council did not reinstate Mr X’s disability premium from 1 July 2018. It says this is because Mr X did not provide it with a full copy of his tax credit letter.
93. The Council says it wanted evidence about rent payments to ensure Mr X’s tenancy remained commercial. It says Mr X never provided full information to support his claim.
94. Mr X appealed about his claim between December 2016 and April 2018. The Council says it wanted his bank statements up to December 2018 to get a clearer picture and to check if Mr X was still entitled to benefit.
95. The Council accepts it could have referred Mr X’s appeal to the tribunal and says it is willing to do so now.
96. Mr X says as his wife is a self-employed hairdresser she is often at the salon without a customer. She only counts the hours she has customers as working hours as she is only paid for those hours.

Analysis

Information requested from Mr X

97. Mr X is paid cash and declares this to HMRC and the Council. In February 2017 Mr X told the Council he did not get wage slips. Because he does not get wage slips, he does not get P60s. The Council can only ask for information Mr X can reasonably provide. Mr X could not reasonably provide wage slips and P60s. However, the Council asked him for the same wage slips on four further occasions.
98. On 4 March 2017 Mr X provided his bank statements for November 2016 to February 2017. In March 2018 he provided his bank statements from December 2016 to March 2018. In April 2018 he provided Mrs X’s current and business bank account statements for December 2016 to March 2018. In August 2018 Mr X sent the Council his and his wife’s current account statements up to August 2018.
99. When the Council wrote to Mr X in November 2018 it asked him to provide all bank statements for him and his wife up to August 2018. It said Mr X must provide these before it would release his housing benefit. Mr X queried this as he had already sent them. The only statements the Council had not previously seen were for Mrs X’s business account from April 2018; when she was not working.
100. In December 2018 the Council again asked Mr X to provide statements on all three accounts for February to August 2018. Mr X did this. The Council did not release the housing benefit payment
101. In January 2019 the Council asked for all bank statements from February to December 2018; although it had all the statements up to August 2018.
102. The Council is at fault for asking for information it already had.
103. The Council says Mr X provided no evidence to support Mrs X’s self-employment form. The form says what the Council will accept as evidence; this includes business bank statements. Therefore, Mr X did provide supporting evidence. If the Council wanted something more, it should have written to Mr X specifying what it wanted to see. The failure to do so is fault.
104. In October 2017 Mr X asked the Council for advice on providing proof of his wife’s self-employed income. The Council did not reply.
105. In its letter of 17 October 2017, the Council said Mr X had failed to provide supporting evidence for cash payments into his bank. The Council now accepts it never asked for any. This is fault.
106. In June 2018 the Council said it owed Mr X housing benefit for three days in April 2017, but he was not entitled at any other time. The Council said it would not pay Mr X unless he provided information about his wife’s income from March 2018. The Council should not have made payment dependent on Mr X providing information for a different period.

Delays

107. The Council says it did not delay in dealing with the review of Mr X’s claim in 2016. It says Mr X gave it information in batches. Mr X gave the Council the information in batches because the Council asked him for more information. When the Council wrote to Mr X in November 2016 asking for information, it should have asked for everything it needed. It did not ask Mr X to fill in a form about the house he owned until March 2017; four months later. The delay in asking Mr X for this form is fault. Mr X then had to wait another three months before the Council made its decision. If the Council has asked for Mr X to fill in the form in November 2016, he could have told it about the other secured debt much earlier.
108. In September 2017, because it had not paid housing benefit for nine months, the Council wanted to check if Mr X had rent arrears. The Council asked Mr X a series of questions and for further information between September 2017 and March 2018, so did not make its decision on his claim until June 2018.

Assessment mistakes

109. In December 2016 the Council cancelled Mr X’s council tax support and backdated this to 1 April 2016. The Council had no grounds to backdate the cancellation to April 2016. It did not reinstate council tax support for April to December 2016 until June 2017. This is fault. It caused Mr X injustice as the Council started enforcement action against him for council tax arrears.
110. In September 2017 the Council accepted Mr X had no capital in the house he owns. However, when the Council assessed the clam in June 2018 it included capital of £21,678 for the house. This is fault. In the same assessment the Council removed Mr X’s disability premium. This is fault.
111. For the days the Council did pay housing benefit, it miscalculated Mr X’s income adding nearly £90 a week. It then said it had overpaid Mr X by £0.54. It did not give a reason for this, as it only said other. The reason was officer error as the Council had not included the rent Mr X receives. The Council should have said this. As it was officer error, the Council needed to consider if Mr X could have realised the Council had overpaid him. The overpayment notice also has the same error in Mr X’s income.
112. In November 2018 the Council said Mr X was not entitled to housing benefit or council tax support from 1 August 2018. It had removed Mr X’s disability premium. Mr X had the trouble of again providing evidence he was entitled to this. Although he provided this proof the Council did not reinstate the premium.
113. As the Council did not send Mr X a decision for April to July 2018, I cannot check if it included his disability premium in its calculations.

The review

114. The Council did not give Mr X a decision on his review request for his claim from December 2016 to April 2018. This is fault.
115. The Council said Mr X must attend an interview. It then gave Mr X not arranging an interview as one reason for closing his claim. The Council can ask a claimant to attend an interview about a claim but cannot insist on it. The Council cannot refuse a claim because someone does not arrange an interview.
116. The Council also said Mr X had not provided all the information the Council asked for. Mr X asked the Council to review his claim up to April 2018. Mr X provided all the information the Council requested for this period. The Council says it wanted bank statements up to December 2018 and the full tax credit decision to check Mr X’s ongoing entitlement. These are two different decisions. The Council should have made its decision on Mr X’s review. If it had not changed its decision it should then have sent the appeal to the tribunal.

Payments

117. Except for £6.67 for 3 days in April 2017, the Council has not paid Mr X housing benefit or council tax support since December 2016.
118. The Council says Mr X never provided full information about his claim. Until January 2019 I have only found one example of Mr X not providing information available to him requested by the Council. This was in February 2017 when he provided two months banks statements for him but not for Mrs X. At the time Mr X was recovering from heart surgery. Mr X did not initially provide Mrs X business bank statements for April to July 2018, but during this time Mrs X did not have a business.
119. The Council let this go on far too long. By the time it made its initial decision, it wanted Mr X to show how he had paid his rent. All the decisions the Council made from June 2018 contained errors, adding yet more time to dealing properly with the claim.
120. The Council contacted Mr X almost every two months asking for more information and up to date information. The Council says Mr X’s circumstances changed. Mr X’s circumstances would change during the two and half years this went on. The Council should have made its decision on the past periods it had information for instead of continually asking Mr X to provide recent information.
121. The Council’s actions meant Mr X did not receive housing benefit and council tax support for over two years, when he probably should have. It continually asked him for information including information Mr X could not provide or had already provided. If the Council believed Mr X was not entitled to benefit, it should have made this decision and he could have appealed. The Council’s actions also meant Mr X faced enforcement action for unpaid council tax. The Council caused Mr X unnecessary distress.

Agreed action

122. We publish guidance on remedies. In considering distress we consider if a council has treated a complainant unfairly. We also consider if a council has caused significant stress, inconvenience and frustration. We also consider the length of time involved and the vulnerability of the complainant. We often recommend a moderate sum of between £100 and £300. However, where the distress is severe or prolonged up to a £1,000 may be justified. In exceptional cases we may recommend more than this.
123. To put matters right for Mr X, the Council has agreed within one month of my final decision it will:

• Apologise to Mr X
• Pay Mr X £1,000 for the distress it caused him
• Recalculate the claims for housing benefit and council tax support, using the correct income, capital and premiums from December 2016 to August 2018. It should give Mr X new decisions. He will then have new rights of appeal.
• If Mr X provides the bank accounts for August to December 2018 the Council should carry out new assessment for that time and provide Mr X with a new decision.

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Final decision

124. The Council is at fault and has caused injustice to Mr X. It has agreed to provide a remedy for this. I have completed my investigation and closed the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman