Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about Housing Benefit reduction. This is because it is reasonable for Miss B to ask for a Council review or appeal so we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome by starting an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss B says the Council miscalculated her non-dependant daughter’s income which has led to a £50 per week reduction in Miss B’s Housing Benefit.

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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.
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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered Miss B’s complaint and the Council’s response to her complaint. I issued a draft decision to Miss B and invited comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

6. Miss B says the Council requested proof of her daughter’s income (who is now a non-dependant) to decide Miss B’s Housing Benefit claim. Miss B provided the Council with her daughter’s employment payslips and self-employed tax return as requested.
7. Miss B says the Council miscalculated her non-dependant daughter’s income which has led to a £50 per week reduction in Miss B’s Housing Benefit.
8. Miss B says she asked the Council to correct the error. She says Council is yet to correct its error. The Council says it will reconsider the matter if Miss B supplies information about her daughter’s income and it has sent Miss B forms to provide this information four times. Miss B says the forms are incorrect, for example, confusing her and her daughter’s names when naming the benefit claimant and the non-dependant. The Council says it is aware of who the claimant and non-dependant are. Miss B also says she asked to appeal against the reduction of her benefit, but she is yet to get any response to her appeal.
9. Miss B wants the Council to correctly calculate her daughter’s income and re-assess Miss B’s Housing Benefit claim.
10. The Council says Miss B requested an appeal, but it did not treat her request as a formal appeal. This is because the Council is willing to re-assess Miss B’s Housing Benefit claim once she provides the relevant information it requested as regards her daughter’s income.
11. Any errors in names on the forms the Council sent do not appear to prevent Miss B supplying the required information. If Miss B remains dissatisfied with the Council’s re-assessment of her claim after she supplies that information, or after the deadline for submitting the information passes, Miss B can use her right of appeal to the tribunal. It would be reasonable to expect her to do so, so I do not propose to pursue this complaint further.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable for Miss B to ask for a Council review or appeal so we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome by starting an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman