Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment. This is because the complainant can appeal to the tribunal and because the Council has recalled the debt from debt collectors.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council did not respond to his request for an explanation regarding a housing benefit overpayment of £17,368. He also complains the debt has been passed to debt collectors.

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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. 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 read the complaint and the explanation the Council recently sent to Mr X about the overpayment. I found out the Council has recalled the debt from debt collectors. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing benefit overpayments

6. If a council pays too much housing benefit to someone it will usually ask them to repay it. The law says an overpayment is recoverable unless it was caused by an official error and it was not reasonable to expect the person to realise they were receiving too much benefit. If someone disagrees with a decision that they must repay an overpayment they can appeal to the tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong.

What happened

7. In February the Council asked Mr X to repay housing benefit of £17,368.
8. In May, Mr X asked for an explanation. The Council did not reply until October by which time it has asked debt collectors to collect the money.
9. The Council’s October letter explained the reason for the overpayment and gave Mr X fresh appeal rights. Mr X has until 22 November to appeal. The Council has recalled the debt from the debt collectors. Mr X has not paid any money to the debt collectors and has not incurred any costs.

Assessment

10. The Council should have responded to Mr X’s request for an explanation before October. However, it has now provided reasons for the overpayment, given fresh appeal rights and recalled the debt from the collectors. Mr X is now back in the position he would have been in had there not been a delay. If Mr X wants to dispute the overpayment he can appeal to the tribunal. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider disputes about overpayments. In addition, the tribunal is free to use and the Council has suspended recovery of the overpayment until the appeals process has been exhausted.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an overpayment because Mr X can appeal to the tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman