Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has wrongly calculated the complainant’s housing benefit since 2018. This is because there were appeal rights the complainant could have used, part of the complaint is late, and there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council has not calculated her housing benefit correctly since 2018. She says the Council has not properly assessed her income. Ms X wants the Council to recalculate her claim.

Back to top

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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes letters the Council sent to Ms X’s MP. I considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Ms X has been receiving housing benefit for her current home since 2018. At times she has not been entitled to full housing benefit and has not paid enough rent; this contributed to rent arrears of £1628.
8. Ms X complained to the Council that it has not calculated her claim correctly, particularly in relation to her income. In July 2021 the Council explained the award, offered appeals rights, and said she could have appealed against any of the previous benefit decisions.
9. In August the Council reviewed the claim from 2018. It said it had asked for information about Ms X’s income in March 2020 but Ms X did not reply until June 2021. The Council identified an award of £996 which it had not sent to Ms X’s rent account. It sent the payment which reduced the arrears. And, because the Council had made an error, it made a discretionary award which cleared the arrears. The Council explained how it had assessed the claim since 2018.
10. I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons.
11. Ms X could have appealed to the tribunal about any benefit decision she thought was wrong since 2018. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have appealed because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider housing benefit disputes. The tribunal would have decided if the Council had correctly assessed her claim. Ms X can use her appeal rights if she thinks her current or any future benefit decisions are wrong.
12. In addition, part of the complaint is late. Ms X is complaining about her claim which started in 2018 but she did not contact us until 2021. I have not seen any reason to accept a late complaint, especially as this was a matter for the tribunal.
13. Finally, there is insufficient evidence of injustice. The Council made an error and failed to send £996 to the rent account. But Ms X had arrears of £1628 which were partly caused by her not paying enough rent. Although the Council was not responsible for all the arrears, it made an additional payment which cleared the arrears. This means the error has not caused an injustice which requires an investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint because Ms X could have used her appeal rights, part of the complaint is late, and because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman