London Borough of Lewisham (20 010 734)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Mar 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Ms X complains that the Council seeks to recover an overpayment of housing benefit. We will not investigate this complaint because there was a right of appeal to a tribunal and the matter is out of time.
The complaint
- Ms X complains that the Council seeks to recover an overpayment of housing benefit.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- Ms X says that she received a letter for recovery of overpaid housing benefit in September 2008 stating that she had been overpaid £677. She queried this with the Council and the Council replied in November with a breakdown of the amount.
- Ms X moved house in March 2009 and did not hear from the Council until July 2020 when the Council repeated their demand for the housing benefit to be repaid.
- Ms X says that she assumed that the recovery of overpaid housing benefit had been written off. Ms X had the right of appeal to tribunal against the decision to recover the overpaid housing benefit. The tribunal is an expert body and their decisions are binding on the Council. I see no reason why an appeal could not have been made in this case.
- I consider that a complaint about the recovery (or any failure to treat a dispute about the decision as an appeal) could have been made to this office within 12 months of the decision in September 2009.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and could have been appealed to a tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman