Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about an alleged overpayment of housing benefit. This is because the complaint is late and it was reasonable for Miss X to use the appeal rights available to her.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s recovery of an alleged overpayment of housing benefit.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered Miss X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information she provided. I also gave Miss X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on her complaint.

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What I found

7. Miss X says the Council failed to update its records in 2014 when she told it about a change in her personal circumstances. She says this led to an overpayment of housing benefit which she is having to repay. Miss X says she complained to the Council in 2015 and 2017.
8. The matter Miss X complains about dates back at least four years. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, considering the particular circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are clear and compelling reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. I see no reason Miss X could not have complained much earlier, and so the exception at paragraph 2 applies to her complaint. In reaching this decision I have taken into account the point I make below.
9. Decisions about alleged housing benefit overpayments are appealable to the tribunal detailed in paragraph 5. Parliament set up the tribunal to consider appeals about housing benefit and it is an expert impartial body. So, even if Miss X’s complaint was not late, an investigation would not be appropriate. If Miss X disputed the overpayment, it was reasonable for Miss X to use the appeal rights available to her. If the overpayment was due to a mistake by the Council, then it is simply recovering an overpayment of benefits Miss X was not entitled to. The injustice to Miss X would therefore be unlikely to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because the complaint is late, and it was reasonable for Miss X to use the appeal rights available to her.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman