Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recover housing benefit it had overpaid. This is because it is not unreasonable to expect the complainant to have used his right of appeal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, has complained about the Council’s decision to recover housing benefit it had overpaid.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X told us he made the Council aware of his new income. He says as the Council delayed updating his account, this resulted in an overpayment. Mr X said the Council’s delayed decision has caused him considerable distress and forced him into debt.
8. 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. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong. The tribunal can accept a late appeal up to 13 months from the date of the decision.
9. The Council considered Mr X’s complaint and recognised part of the overpayment was because of an official error. However, it says it was reasonable to expect Mr X to have known he was being overpaid. It decided the overpayment was recoverable.
10. We have no powers to decide housing benefit appeals. The tribunals are independent expert bodies whose decisions are binding on councils. So, it would not have been unreasonable to expect Mr X to have used the specific remedy the law provides for people who wish to challenge housing benefit overpayment.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is not unreasonable to expect him to have used his right to appeal against the decision to recover the amounts it overpaid to him.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman