Summary: Mr X complained the Council wrongly demanded money in November 2019 for a housing benefit overpayment he had already paid. The information provided shows that deductions from Mr X’s salary in 2014 were council tax payments. The Council’s delay for five years in taking recovery action is fault and the Council should apologise for this.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council wrongly demanded money in November 2019 for a housing benefit overpayment which he had already paid.
2. He says he suffered financial hardship as a result.

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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. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• sent my draft decision to both the Council and the complainant and invited their comments.
• sent my draft decision to both the Council and the complainant and taken account of their comments in reaching my final decision.

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What I found

6. Mr X claimed housing benefit when he was working over a number of years. As a result of changes to his employment and income a number of housing benefit overpayments occurred between 2003 and 2015. I am satisfied the Council notified Mr X of each overpayment and that the notification letter provided details of Mr X’s right of review and appeal if he disagreed with the decision.
7. Mr X began making regular payments towards the arrears in April 2012. He continued to make these regular payments of £20 a month until January 2015 when the payments ended. It is not clear to me why the payments stopped at this time but the amount outstanding was £3870.44.
8. Mr X says he heard nothing further from the Council until November 2019 when it contacted him about the arrears. Mr X was surprised to receive the letter as he thought money had been taken from his wages to pay the arrears.
9. The Council wrote to Mr X on 19 November 2019 explaining the deductions from his salary were in respect of council tax arrears. It said it was unable to cancel the recovery action and that it would be deducting payments from his salary for the housing benefit arrears.
10. After seeking assistance from his MP, the Council wrote to Mr X on 8 January 2020 explaining the circumstances that led to the recovery of overpaid housing benefit. The Council explained that until recently it did not have the resources to seek recovery of money owed to it. It said Mr X’s case was complex and there were many adjustments to his benefit entitlement that resulted in the debt. The letter provided a detailed summary explaining how the balance of £3870.44 had accrued.
11. An attachment of earnings order was started in February 2020 and monthly payments were taken until December 2020 when the full debt had been repaid. The final payment in December 2020 resulted in a credit balance of £189.12.

Analysis

12. Mr X complained the Council demanded money in November 2019 in respect of housing benefit overpayments he had already repaid. Mr X says that deductions had been taken from his salary to cover this.
13. In response to my enquiries, the Council has provided details about the housing benefit overpayments and council tax arrears. Mr X did not dispute the housing benefit overpayments and began making payments to reduce the arrears in April 2012. There is no evidence that deductions were taken from Mr X’s wages in respect of housing benefit arrears until February 2020. Any deductions from salary were for council tax arrears.
14. The Council did not take any action when Mr X stopped making regular monthly payments in January 2015. The Council says this is because it did not have available resources to recover debts. I can understand that Mr X was shocked in November 2019 when he was contacted saying he owed over £3,800. However, the money was owed to the Council and so it is entitled to recover it. While it is not fault to recover the money, the delay of over four years in pursuing the debt does amount to fault.
15. I therefore have to consider how Mr X was affected as a result of this fault. There is nothing to suggest Mr X made any efforts after January 2015 to repay the amount he knew was still outstanding. There was then a period of five years until he made another payment. While it is not good practice to delay recovery in this way as it can cause confusion, I do not consider this had a detrimental effect on Mr X.
16. Before taking deductions from Mr X’s wages in February 2020, the Council provided a detailed explanation of how the debt accrued. The Council recovered the money in a way it is entitled to by law and so cannot be criticised for this even though Mr X then had to make large monthly payments and almost £4,000 was paid within one year.
17. I am not persuaded Mr X was affected in a way that caused an injustice significant enough to warrant any financial remedy. However, the Council should apologise for the delay and any distress and confusion this caused. The Council should also ensure it contacts Mr X about the credit of £189.12 and offer to repay it.

Agreed action

18. Within one month of my final decision the Council will take the following action:

Provide a written apology to Mr X; and

Contact him to arrange repayment of the credit on his housing benefit account.

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Final decision

19. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. The Council has agreed to implement the actions I have recommended. These appropriately remedy any injustice caused by fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman