Summary: the Council failed to tell Miss C about her right of appeal when refusing her application for a four-week extension to housing benefit. That delayed the Council referring the appeal to tribunal. An apology and agreement to put in a late appeal for Miss C is satisfactory remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss C, complained the Council failed to tell her about her appeal rights when refusing her application for a four-week extension to housing benefit.

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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. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Miss C's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; and
• gave the Council and Miss C an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Background

6. Miss C received housing benefit while she could not work. When Miss C started work she applied to the Council for a four-week extension to her housing benefit. The Council refused that application as it said Miss C did not qualify as she had not received jobseekers allowance continuously for 26 weeks. When telling Miss C about that decision the Council did not tell her about her right of appeal.
7. Miss C put in a complaint. The Council responded on 1 November. In its response the Council told Miss C she did not qualify for extended housing benefit because she had not received a relevant benefit for a continuous 26 week period before she started work. The Council did not tell Miss C about her right of appeal.
8. Miss C asked for her complaint to go to stage two. The Council responded on 29 November. The Council again told Miss C she was not entitled to extended housing benefit as she had not received a relevant benefit for a continuous 26 week period before she started work. The Council did not tell Miss C about her right of appeal.
9. Miss C asked for her complaint to go to stage three. The Council responded on 19 December. The Council again said Miss C was not entitled to extended housing benefit as she had not received a relevant benefit for a continuous 26 week period before she started work. The Council did not tell Miss C about her right of appeal.

Analysis

10. Miss C originally complained about the Council’s failure to award a four-week extension to her housing benefit when she started work. As I said in paragraph 3, the Ombudsman does not have jurisdiction to consider complaints about matters where there is a right of appeal. Miss C has a right of appeal about the decision not to award a four-week extension to her housing benefit and therefore that decision is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
11. However, the documentary evidence shows when the Council wrote to Miss C to tell her it had refused her application for a housing benefit extension it did not tell her about her right of appeal. The Council accepts it should have done that and has agreed to prepare a case for late submission to the tribunal service. I welcome that. I am concerned though the Council did not identify its failure to do that when dealing with Miss C’s complaint. That has extended the process longer than it should have. I therefore recommended in addition to the preparation of the case for late submission to tribunal the Council also send a written apology to Miss C for not doing that sooner. The Council has agreed to that recommendation.

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Agreed action

12. Within one month of my decision the Council should apologise to Miss C and provide evidence it has submitted her appeal to tribunal.

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Final decision

13. I have completed my investigation and uphold the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman