Summary: We will not investigate this housing benefit complaint because there are appeal rights the complainant can and has used.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about the way the Council processed her housing benefit. She disputes an overpayment, says she is still waiting to hear from the tribunal, and says the Council has wrongly included tax credits in the calculation of her benefit. Mrs X wants the Council to admit an error caused the overpayment and recalculate her benefit award without tax credits.

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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. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. 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)
6. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of the Tribunal Service. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X appealed against a housing benefit overpayment in June 2020 and is waiting for the tribunal to give her a hearing date.
9. Mrs X appealed against another benefit decision in August 2022. The Council told her the appeal will be passed to the tribunal if the decision is not changed in her favour.
10. Mrs X disputes the overpayment, says the Council wrongly treats her as receiving tax credits, and keeps adding to the overpayment.
11. The law says we cannot start an investigation if someone has appealed to the tribunal. Mrs X has appealed to the tribunal about an overpayment so I have no power to start an investigation. I appreciate Mrs X is waiting a long time for an appeal hearing date but the dates are arranged by the Tribunal Service which is not part of the Council.
12. Mrs X also complains of additional overpayments and that the Council has incorrectly included tax credits when calculating her housing benefit. I will not investigate these issues because Mrs X can use her review and appeal rights. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to do this because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider benefit disputes and we do not make benefit decisions.

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Final decision

13. We will not start an investigation because Mrs X has either appealed to the tribunal or can use her appeal rights for other benefit decisions she disputes.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman