Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s decision to recover a 2014 benefit overpayment from him. This is because the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and the availability of appeal rights against the overpayment decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, says the Council should have recovered a 2014 benefit overpayment from his landlord rather than him. He says it should pay back the money he has so far repaid and pay damages for the impact this matter has had on his health and financial reputation.

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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. 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. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr B. I gave him the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

6. In 2014 the Council notified Mr B that he was liable to repay a housing benefit overpayment.
7. Mr B queried this with the Council two months later. The Council carried out a review but upheld the overpayment decision in 2015.
8. In December 2018 the Council sent Mr B a final reminder for the overpayment debt. Mr B then asked the Council to look again at its decision but the Council told him he was outside the time limit to be able to request a review and that it would not change its 2014 decision.

Assessment

9. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
10. The restrictions highlighted at paragraphs 2 and 3 apply to this complaint. Mr B knew of the Council’s decision on the overpayment five years ago and at the time he would have had appeal rights to the tribunal against the Council’s decision that he could have used to challenge its decision. For these reasons the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and will not be investigated.
11. In commenting on my draft decision, Mr B said the Council did not notify him of his appeal rights, did not investigate his landlord when making its decision and did not change its decision when he gave it information about his landlord. However, these are matters Mr B would have been aware of in 2014/2015. He could have made a complaint about these matters at the time and it is too late now for the Ombudsman to investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and the availability of appeal rights against the overpayment decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman