Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has not implemented a tribunal decision from 2019. This is because it is a late complaint, there were appeal rights the complainant could have used, and because part of the complaint has already been considered by the tribunal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says he is owed housing benefit from 2014. He says the Council ignored a decision made by the tribunal in June 2019.

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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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended)
6. 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

7. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

8. In 2015 the Council decided Mr X was no longer entitled to housing benefit. Mr X says this decision was wrong and was due to the Council not calculating his pension correctly. Mr X appealed to the tribunal. The tribunal rejected his appeal on 2 February 2016.
9. Mr X made a new claim for housing benefit on 5 February 2016. The Council refused the application on the grounds that he was a joint owner of a property. Mr X appealed to the tribunal. The tribunal initially dismissed the appeal but, following further submissions from Mr X, upheld his appeal in June 2019.
10. In June 2019 the Council reconsidered the application Mr X had made in February 2016. It asked Mr X to provide more information so it could assess the claim. It asked him to provide the information by 26 August 2019. Mr X did not provide the information so the Council made a decision on 3 September 2019 that he was not entitled to benefit because he had not provided enough information. The Council signposted Mr X to the Ombudsman in September 2019.
11. Mr X says the Council ignored the tribunal decision from June 2019 and continues to assert he is entitled to housing benefit from 2015.

Assessment

12. I will not start an investigation for the following reasons.
13. The question of whether Mr X was entitled to housing benefit following the 2015 decision has been considered by the tribunal. The tribunal upheld the Council’s decision that Mr X was not entitled to benefit at that time. The law says I cannot investigate any matter that has been considered the tribunal.
14. In June 2019 the tribunal upheld Mr X’s appeal relating to his application from February 2016. The Council asked Mr X to provide further information so it could assess the claim following the tribunal decision. Mr X did not provide the information so the Council ended the claim. If Mr X disagreed with the Council’s decision of September 2019 he could have appealed to the tribunal. It is reasonable to expect him to have appealed because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider benefit disputes.
15. I also will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. The Council signposted Mr X to the Ombudsman in September 2019 but he did not make his complaint until November 2020. I have not seen any good reason to investigate a complaint which is more than a year old, especially as the matter needed to have been dealt with by the tribunal.

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Final decision

16. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint, Mr X could have used his appeal rights, and part of the complaint has already been considered by the tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman