Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment because the complainant could have appealed to the tribunal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about a housing benefit overpayment. He says he is allowed to have savings of at least £6000.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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. 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

5. I read the complaint and the housing benefit overpayment decision letter. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing benefit overpayments

6. If a council pays too much housing benefit to someone it will usually ask them to repay it. The law says an overpayment is recoverable unless it was caused by an official error and it was not reasonable to expect the person to realise they were receiving too much benefit. If someone disagrees with a decision that they must repay an overpayment they can appeal to the tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong.
7. People must disclose all their income and savings when they apply for housing benefit. Income is assessed separately from savings.

What happened

8. Mr X applied for housing benefit in 2016. The Council decided he was entitled to benefit based on the information he had provided.
9. In February 2019 the Council found out that Mr X gets a pension which he had not disclosed when he made the application in 2016. The Council reassessed the claim from 2016 taking the pension into account The Council calculated it had paid Mr X too much money because he had not disclosed the pension. The Council asked him to repay £342. The Council told Mr X he had one month to appeal to the tribunal if he disagreed with the decision. Mr X did not appeal. The Council recovered the overpayment by taking £11 a week from his housing benefit until the amount was repaid.
10. Mr X disagrees with the decision because he has savings of less than £6000. Mr X says the amount of the pension was less than the capital limit so it should make any difference.

Assessment

11. I will not start an investigation because Mr X could have appealed to the tribunal if he disagreed with the decision that he must repay £342. It is reasonable to expect him to have appealed because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider disputes about overpayments. In addition, the Council clearly explained his appeal rights.
12. Mr X says he has less than £6000 in savings and the pension he did not disclose was less than the capital limit. However, his savings do not alter the fact that he was required to disclose all his income and the Council works out entitlement to housing benefit based on all the income that someone receives. In addition, if Mr X thought the Council had not calculated his housing benefit correctly then he could have appealed.

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Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because Mr X could have appealed to the tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman