Summary: Ms C complains about how the Council managed her housing and council tax benefits, causing her financial hardship. However. that the Ombudsman has found no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the issues raised by Ms C.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms C, complains that the Council has mismanaged her council tax and housing benefits, resulting in her facing financial difficulties. Ms C says:
• The Council failed to inform her that it was cancelling her claim for housing benefit in 2018, and subsequently refused to backdate the claim.
• The Council incorrectly stopped her Council tax benefits in December 2017.
• The Council mismanaged her housing and council tax benefit for the 2013/2014 period.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated the Council’s actions in relation the cancelation of Ms C’s housing benefit in 2018, and its decision not to backdate the payments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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’. 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)
4. 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)
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. 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

7. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint received from Ms C; and
• reviewed and considered information received from the Council; and
• considered any relevant law and guidance; and
• communicated with Ms C about her complaint.
8. I also sent a draft version of this decision to both parties and invited their comments.

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What I found

Housing benefit

9. Housing benefit is a regular council payment to help pay rent. Housing benefit is only available to those receiving a low-income or claiming benefits.
10. A person who claims housing benefit must inform the Council if their circumstances change, and provide any information, documents or evidence reasonably needed by a council to decide entitlement to benefit.
11. Once a housing benefit application has been approved, councils can backdate claims for a period of up to six months if a claimant can show “good cause” for failing to claim earlier.

What happened

12. In August 2017, Ms C was in receipt of housing benefit of about £150 per week.
13. In May 2018, Ms C contacted the Council, and informed it she had become a student. As this constituted a change of circumstances, the Council asked her to provide evidence in support of her student status.
14. After no evidence was received, the Council made the decision to suspend Ms C’s housing benefit, giving her a further month to provide the evidence. In July 2018, the Council wrote to Ms C to inform her of the suspension.
15. In its letter, the Council explained how Ms C could appeal to the tribunal if she was dissatisfied with its decision. The Council say that no appeal was made.
16. The Council wrote to Ms C one month later. It explained it had received no evidence in support of her change of circumstances, it was therefore stopping her housing benefits.
17. The Council say that both letters were sent to Ms C by Royal Mail. It provided the Ombudsman with copies of these letters, as well as copies addressed to Ms C’s landlord. The Council say it has no record that any of these letters were returned undelivered.
18. In October 2018, Ms C applied to the Council for her housing benefit to be backdated to August 2018. The Council wrote to Ms C explaining it could not backdate housing benefit because Ms C did not have a live claim, it explained to her how she could apply for housing benefit.
19. Ms C subsequently contacted the Council and asked why her housing benefit had stopped. She said she had not received either of the two letters it sent.
20. Ms C did not submit a new claim for housing benefit until January, some six months after the Council cancelled her claim. Upon submitting her application, Ms C asked for her claim to be backdated until October. Ms C said the reasons for her claim was because her partner had left the property.
21. The Council approved Ms C’s claim form housing benefit but rejected her claim for it to be backdated. It wrote to her explaining that it did not consider her reason warranted backdating her housing benefits. In its letter, the Council informed Ms C how she can appeal its decision. There is no evidence to suggest Ms C took the opportunity to appeal

Analysis

22. Having considered the Council’s actions, I can find no evidence of fault causing injustice. I have set out the reasons for this below.
23. Upon being informed that Ms C’s circumstances had changed, the Council requested evidence in support of this as it is entitled to do.
24. When the requested information was not received it wrote to Ms C to inform her it was suspending her claim, giving her a further month to provide the information. When no information was received it cancelled her housing benefit.
25. The Council provided the Ombudsman with copies of the letters it sent to Ms C and her landlord. I therefore do not find fault with how it informed her of the suspension and subsequent cancelation of her benefits.
26. I acknowledge that Ms C says she did not receive these letters. However, there is no statutory requirement for Council’s to prove delivery of letters, and we cannot hold it responsible for any delays or errors caused by Royal Mail.
27. Ms C had the opportunity to appeal the Council’s decision to cancel her housing benefit with the tribunal. The Council provided information about how she could do this in its letters to Ms C. I see no reason why Ms C could not have appealed this decision at the time.
28. Ms C requested the Council backdate the housing benefit. The Council explained she would need to have a live housing benefit claim for it to be backdated and encouraged her to submit an application.
29. Upon submitting her application, the Council wrote to Ms C rejecting her claim for backdating her housing benefit and explained how she could appeal this with the tribunal. I see no reason why Ms C could not have appealed this decision at the time.

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Final decision

30. I have concluded my investigation on the basis that there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with Ms C’s housing benefits.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

31. I have not investigated Ms C’s claim that the Council mismanaged her benefits for the 2013/2014 period. Nor have I investigated Ms C’s complaint about the withdrawal of her housing benefit in December 2017.
32. This is because these elements of her complaint occurred more than 12 months ago and are therefore out of time. I see no reason why Ms C could not have brought these complaints to the Ombudsman earlier.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman