Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council is pursuing the complainant for housing benefit overpayments which the complainant says the Council wrote off in 2015. This is because it is a late complaint and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council is pursuing her for housing benefit overpayments which it wrote off in 2015.

Back to top

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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered information about the Council’s downsizing policy and notes of the contact between Mrs X and the Council. I considered comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

5. The Council offers help to enable people to move to a smaller property. It offers an incentive payment and can help to clear rent arrears.

What happened

6. Mrs X received housing benefit until 2014. The Council asked Mrs X to repay some housing benefit before the claim ended in 2014. In May 2015 Mrs X had housing benefit overpayments of £3228.
7. In July 2015 Mrs X moved to a smaller home. The Council gave her £628 to clear her rent arrears and an incentive payment of £500. Mrs X says the Council also wrote off the overpayments. The Council disagrees.
8. In early 2016 the Council wrote to Mrs X about the overpayments. Mr X called the Council in February 2016 and set up a standing order of £31 a month to pay the overpayments. They maintained this payment until October 2016.
9. The Council wrote to Mrs X in March 2018 to say she still owed £2949. It said that if she did not set up a payment plan the Council would take steps to recover the debt by getting deductions from her pay (Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA)). Mrs X called the Council in April 2018. She said the overpayment was written off when she moved. The Council explained the overpayments were not waived. The Council resent all the letters it had previously sent.
10. The Council did not receive any payments from Mrs X so it set up a DEA. Mrs X called the Council in January 2019 to repeat the overpayments had been cleared in 2015. The Council repeated what it had previously told her. It confirmed she received financial help to move in 2015 but this did not include waiving the overpayments.
11. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s response. She says the Council wrote off the overpayments in 2015. She wants the Council to accept this and to repay what it has taken via the DEA.

Assessment

12. I will not start an investigation for the following reasons.
13. This is a late complaint. Mr X made a payment arrangement in 2016 and the family made payments towards the overpayment until October 2016. The Council also told Mrs X about the overpayment in March 2018. If Mrs X thought the overpayment was waived in 2015 then it is reasonable to expect that she would have complained in 2016 or 2018. However, she did not complain to the Ombudsman until July 2019. I have not seen any good reason to accept such a late complaint especially as there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
14. Mrs X says the complaint is late because she was trying to understand what had happened. But, if Mrs X thought the overpayment had been cleared in 2015, then it is reasonable to expect she would have complained in 2016 rather than setting up the payment plan.
15. The lack of any suggestion of fault is another reason why I will not start an investigation. The policy for moving to a smaller home does not include waiving housing benefit overpayments. In addition, none of the records refer to removing the overpayment. There are records which refer to the incentive payment and paying the arrears. If the package had included waiving the overpayment then it is likely this would also have been reflected in the records.

Back to top

Final decision

16. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman