Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a Discretionary Housing Payment because the Council has already provided a satisfactory response.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the way the Council handled her application for a Discretionary Housing Payment.

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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. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe the Council has already provided a satisfactory response. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)

4. A DHP is a payment a council can make, in addition to housing benefit, to help people pay their rent.

What happened

5. On 24 January the Council told Ms X it had awarded a DHP of £1384. Ms X was pleased and relived as she has some financial difficulties. Ms X did not receive the payment. Despite chasing the Council she could not find out what had happened. Ms X felt very stressed.
6. Ms X complained on 14 February. The Council replied a few days later. It said that shortly after awarding the DHP it found out that her partner’s wage had increased and it had to recalculate the housing benefit and the DHP. But, there was a delay due to a systems error. The Council apologised for the stress and that Ms X had had to chase the Council. It said a DHP of £1250 would be paid by 23 February.
7. Ms X is very upset about the time it took for the Council to sort the payment out and because it did not tell her what was happening.

Assessment

8. I will not start an investigation because the Council has already provided a satisfactory response. It explained what went wrong, apologised and paid the DHP. There is nothing more I would have expected the Council to do and an investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
9. Ms X would have liked to know what was happening. This is understandable. But, the reasons for the delay, and for the Council not updating Ms X, is due to the error for which it has already apologised. Once the Council became aware of the problem, and the complaint, there was no undue delay in releasing the payment and providing a response to the complaint.

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Final decision

10. I will not start an investigation because the Council has already provided a fair response.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman