London Borough of Ealing (21 014 740)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Feb 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council has recovered housing benefit from him as a landlord. We will not investigate this complaint because the complaint is out of time and could be (and was) appealed to a tribunal.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council has recovered housing benefit from him as a landlord.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.
My assessment
- Mr X has complained on many occasions since 2011 about the Council’s recovery of overpayments of housing benefit. He has appealed to the tribunal and been successful. The Council has also reviewed their decisions partly in his favour.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate any complaint about the merit of a housing benefit decision as they can be appealed to a tribunal. Nor can he investigate any complaint that has been appealed to a tribunal.
- Further, the matters he has complained about could have been raised to this office on many occasions and I see no reason why they could not have been made to this office within 12 months of Mr X becoming aware of these matters.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because they are out of time and matters of the tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman