Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council calculated Ms X’s housing benefit. This is because the alleged faults have not caused Ms X any significant injustice to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the way the Council calculated her housing benefit. She says date discrepancies has led to underpayments and that the Council is not making payments on time. She says this has resulted in her falling behind with her rent payments.

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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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X receives housing benefit from the Council. She moved from Property 1 to Property 2 in August 2021.
6. The Council explained in its complaint response that some of its calculations of Ms X’s housing benefit was incorrect. This led to a small overpayment of housing benefit. The Council confirmed as this was its mistake, it will not seek to recover the overpayment from Ms X. Ms X has also confirmed she has no rent arrears for Property 1.
7. Therefore, although the Council has accepted there was fault in its calculations, this did not lead to any injustice to Ms X.
8. With regards to Property 2, the Council’s complaint response clarifies Ms X receives the maximum housing benefit under the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules. The Council also explained how the weekly benefit figure had been calculated.
9. Ms X told us she was one month in arrears for her rent for Property 2. However, the Council pays housing benefit in arrears. As Ms X’s rent is charged in advance, this would explain why Ms X’s rent account is in arrears.
10. Therefore, I will not investigate this complaint as the alleged fault has not caused any significant injustice that would justify an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the alleged fault has not caused any significant injustice that justifies an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman