Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to pay housing benefit to a claimant. This is because the claimant has already appealed to a tribunal about the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr B, complained the Council had wrongly refused his claim for housing benefit (HB), and told him to claim Universal Credit (UC) instead, after he moved home.

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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. In particular, the law says we cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal is a tribunal that considers HB appeals.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr B provided about his complaint. I also gave Mr B an opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision before I reached a final view in his case. In addition I took account of the Council’s response to our enquiries about Mr B’s complaint.

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What I found

5. Mr B was renting a property and claiming HB from the Council to help with his rent.
6. However the Council had to move Mr B because the poor condition of the property was affecting his health. The Council placed Mr B in temporary accommodation for a few weeks before finding him a new property.
7. Mr B made a HB claim to the Council for his new property. But the Council turned this down on the basis there had been a break in Mr B’s claim when he was in temporary accommodation, so he now had to claim UC for help with his rent.
8. But Mr B said when he went to the Department for Works and Pensions to claim UC, they told him to go back to the Council as he should still be entitled to HB.
9. In the meantime Mr B was not receiving any financial assistance and so was unable to pay his rent and council tax.
10. In response to our enquiries the Council said that Mr B had appealed about its decision and it had now forwarded the appeal papers to the Tribunals Service so that a hearing can be arranged.

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Analysis

11. In the circumstances I do not see we can investigate Mr B’s complaint.
12. In particular Mr B has already appealed about the Council’s decision regarding his entitlement to HB, and the appeal is currently waiting to be considered by the First Tier Tribunal.
13. On this basis I consider the restriction on our jurisdiction I refer to in paragraph 2 applies in Mr B’s case. As a result I have concluded that we are prevented by law from investigating Mr B’s complaint because he has already used his right of appeal to a statutory tribunal regarding the issue in his case.

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Final decision

14. The Ombudsman cannot start an investigation of Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s refusal of his claim for housing benefit. This is because the law prevents us pursuing complaints where the complainant has appealed to a statutory tribunal about the matter in question.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman