Summary: The Council was at fault for wrongly paying Discretionary Housing Payment into an account that was not Mr X’s. The Council has repaid Mr X and put in place actions to stop this occurring again. The Council was also at fault for the delay in handling Mr X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr X in recognition of the delay.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council wrongly paid Discretionary Housing Payment into an account that was not his. Mr X also complains about the time it took the Council to investigate the matter and pay him the money. Mr X said he spent much time chasing the Council by email and telephone.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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

4. As part of this investigation I considered the complaint made by Mr X and the Council’s response. I discussed the complaint with Mr X over the telephone. I made enquires with the Council and considered the response received. I sent a draft of this decision to Mr X and the Council and considered the responses received.

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What I found

5. Discretionary housing payments (DHPs) are financial payments a council may provide to someone who needs help to meet their housing costs.
6. Mr X is a landlord who rents his property to tenants. On 12 February 2020 the Council told Mr X his tenants had applied for a DHP. The Council said it would pay £1,320 into Mr X’s bank account.
7. On 20 February 2020 Mr X telephoned the Council as he had not received the DHP payments into his bank account. The Council said it had paid the DHP. It said it received an email from the tenants’ agent who confirmed the account details the tenants provided belonged to Mr X.
8. On 23 February 2020 Mr X’s tenants moved out. Mr X telephoned the Council again on 5 March 2020 where the Council told him it would not pay him the DHP as it had already paid this.
9. Mr X raised a formal complaint to the Council on 9 March 2020. Mr X complained the Council failed to pay him the DHP owed and did not properly verify his bank account before transferring money.
10. Between April and November 2020 there are several telephone notes and several emails where Mr X is chasing up a response to his complaint. The Council on each occasion tell Mr X it is still investigating the complaint.
11. On 10 November 2020 the Council provided its response to Mr X’s complaint. The Council agreed to pay Mr X the DHP. The Council also said there were delays in replying to Mr X caused by the Covid-19 pandemic but decided it should have resolved the matter a lot sooner and apologised.
12. On 19 November 2020 the Council paid Mr X the DHP owed. Mr X remained dissatisfied and complained to the Ombudsman. Mr X said he did not think the Council’s response reflected the time spent chasing this and inconvenience he suffered.

The Council’s response to my enquiries

13. In response to my enquiries the Council said it paid the DHP to the wrong bank account. It said the tenant told it they had only dealt with an agent and provided details for this person. When the Council contacted this person they confirmed the bank details belonged to Mr X.
14. The Council said since this event it has made all DHP assessors aware that banks do not check account holder names before processing payments. The Council also said assessors will now check bank details provided by phone and email against council tax records to ensure there are no discrepancies. If this cannot be done, the Council will ask landlords to send a bank statement.

Analysis

15. The Council was at fault for paying the DHP into a bank account that did not belong to Mr X. It did not adequately check the details provided by Mr X’s tenants before transferring the money. This resulted in Mr X not receiving the DHP money he was told the Council would pay him.
16. The Council has now paid Mr X the money it owed him and confirmed it has put in place measures to ensure this error does not happen again. This is appropriate to remedy the injustice caused.
17. The Council was also at fault for the time taken to investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council has agreed it should have done this sooner and apologised to Mr X. From April 2020 until November 2020 there are records of Mr X chasing the Council for a response to his complaint regularly via telephone and email. In total it took the Council eight months to provide Mr X with a response to his complaint. While I recognise the Council has apologised I do not consider this goes far enough. The Council should make a payment to Mr X for the time and trouble he experienced in chasing his complaint.

Agreed action

18. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed pay Mr X £300 to recognise the time and trouble he spent in pursuing his complaint.
19. The Council should provide us with evidence to show it has made this payment to Mr X.

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Final decision

20. I have completed my investigation and found fault by the Council which caused injustice to Mr X. The Council has agreed to the above action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman