Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 002 174)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 30 Aug 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Ms X complains that the Council failed to rehouse her and has not paid sufficient housing benefit. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and there was a right of appeal to a tribunal about benefit entitlement.
The complaint
- Ms X complains that the Council failed to rehouse her and has not paid sufficient housing benefit.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has been given the opportunity to comment on the draft decision.
What I found
- Ms X says that, between the years 2010 and 2012, she was homeless and the Council did not help her.
- I appreciate her reasons for not making a complaint to this office (due to her illness) but any investigation of this complaint would be too difficult to conclude given the lapse of time since the issues mentioned. I consider therefore that this part of the complaint is out of jurisdiction.
- Ms X says that she made a claim for housing benefit in 2018 but the claim was refused. Ms X was given a right of appeal to a tribunal to dispute this decision. The Tribunal is an independent expert body and its decisions are binding on Councils. I see no reason why an appeal could not have been made. I consider that this part of the complaint is also out of jurisdiction for this reason.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the complaint is out of time and there was a right of appeal to a tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman