Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complainant was able to exercise appeal rights, putting the complaint out of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Miss X, complained that the Council incorrectly calculated her housing benefit, then unreasonably reclaimed a large overpayment. She is also complained of having been given conflicting instructions by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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. I have considered information provided by Miss X and by the Council. I also sent Miss X a draft version of this decision for comment.

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What I found

6. Miss X complained that the Council incorrectly calculated her housing benefit over a two-year period due to wrongly including childcare costs. On realising its error, the Council requested repayment of several thousand pounds.
7. Miss X appealed to the Council’s benefit service, which reduced the sum payable and informed her of her right of further appeal, including to an independent tribunal. Miss X also complained to the Council that the overpayment was not her fault, as the Council had failed to log updates she provided on her childcare situation. She said that she was being asked to repay more than she could afford and that she had been given conflicting and confusing instructions while trying to resolve the issue, causing her stress.
8. In its response to the complaint, the Council said the dispute over the amount owed was already being dealt with by the appeal process and provided a telephone number to discuss repayments. It denied failing to log the information Miss X provided.

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Assessment

9. Miss X had a right of appeal to a tribunal about the size of the repayment, which she could reasonably exercise. The Ombudsman therefore should not investigate this part of the complaint. Any injustice that arose as a result of the Council’s processes for dealing with childcare costs would be rectified by the appeal.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because Miss X has the right to appeal the Council’s decision to the Social Entitlement Chamber. It would be reasonable of her to do this as this is the body Parliament has said should resolve such disputes.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman