Northumberland County Council (21 002 100)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 Jul 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment because the complainant has appealed to the tribunal.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about a housing benefit overpayment. She wants the Council to cancel it.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I read the complaint and found out from the Council that Ms X is waiting for a hearing date for her appeal with the tribunal. I invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.
What I found
Housing benefit overpayments
- 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.
What happened
- The Council asked Ms X to repay a housing benefit overpayment of £650. Ms X says she supplied all the information she was asked to send and says the Council has admitted the overpayment arose due to a Council error. Ms X says the Council says she must still repay the overpayment because she should have known she was being overpaid. Ms X disagrees and has appealed to the tribunal.
- The Council has passed her appeal to the tribunal. The Council and Ms X are waiting for a date for the appeal.
Assessment
- I cannot start an investigation because Ms X has appealed to the tribunal. The law says we cannot investigate any issue that forms part of an appeal to the tribunal. The tribunal will decide if Ms X has to repay some or all of the overpayment. We will have no power to start an investigation even if Ms X loses the appeal and disagrees with the tribunal’s decision.
Final decision
- I cannot start an investigation because Ms X has appealed to the tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman