Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment which arose in 2011. This is because it is a late complaint, the complainant could have used his appeal rights and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council is trying to recover a housing benefit overpayment.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
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. 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

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

7. In 2011 the Council asked Mr X to repay a housing benefit overpayment of £828. It told him he could appeal if he disagreed with the decision. Mr X paid £100 towards the overpayment in 2011. In 2013 and 2014 the Council chased Mr X for the remaining overpayment and unsuccessfully tried collecting the debt using bailiffs. In 2016 the Council tried to recover the debt by getting deductions from Mr X’s wages. This was unsuccessful because he had left his job.
8. In 2020 the Council made another attempt to recover the debt. Mr X tried to appeal. The Council told him his appeal rights ended 13 months after the original decision in 2011.
9. In 2021 the Council issued an invoice for £728. It explained it would arrange deductions from his wages unless he made a payment arrangement. Mr X did not pay but said the debt was statute barred. He also referred to the Council having a County Court Judgement (CCJ); he says he has paid £400 towards the overpayment via the CCJ. The Council said it was not taking court action so the issue of the debt being statute barred did not apply. It explained it had not obtained a CCJ for the overpayment. The current position is that the debt has fallen to £655 as the Council has received some payments from Mr X’s wages.
10. I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons.
11. This is a late complaint. Mr X has known about the overpayment since 2011 but he did not complain to us until 2021. This is in spite of being contacted about the overpayment in 2013, 2014 and 2020. I have not seen any good reason to accept such a late complaint.
12. Mr X could have used his appeal rights in 2011 if he disagreed there was a recoverable overpayment. It is reasonable to expect him to appeal because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider disputes about overpayments. Mr X made a payment in 2011 which suggests he did not dispute the overpayment. Although in 2020 Mr X said he wanted to appeal it was too late because his appeal rights expired in 2012.
13. Finally, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council tried to recover the debt by asking Mr X to make a payment arrangement, it has explained it has not obtained a CCJ and it does not need to go to court to recover the debt from Mr X’s wages. Although Mr X has asserted he made payments for the overpayment, via the CCJ, he has not provided any evidence of a CCJ for the overpayment or that he has paid £400 for the overpayment.

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Final decision

14. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint, Mr X could have used his appeal rights and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman