Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to reduce his council tax support and housing benefit entitlement. He said the Council also delayed sending his appeal to tribunal. The Council was at fault for failing to inform Mr X of his right to appeal its decision to reduce his council tax support to the Valuation Tribunal, and for failing to respond to his request for council tax support. The Council will apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 to acknowledge the frustration and uncertainty it caused and inform him of his right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to reduce his council tax support and housing benefit entitlement between March 2021 and October 2022. He says the Council delayed sending his housing benefit appeal to the tribunal and provided no rationale for how it had calculated his housing benefit. He also complains about delays in the Council’s complaints process.
2. Mr X says the matter has caused him distress and financial difficulty.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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. 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)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
7. 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)
8. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

9. I spoke to Mr X about the complaint and considered information he provided.
10. I considered information provided by the Council.
11. Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments before I made a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

The Council’s benefits appeal process

12. The Council has a two-stage process for appeals of its decisions about housing benefit and council tax support.
13. Stage one is a written appeal to the Council’s benefits team within one month of the decision letter.
14. Stage two is an appeal to either:
• The Social Entitlement Chamber tribunal for housing benefit. The applicant must write to the Council within one month of the reconsideration response, after which the Council will send the appeal to the tribunal.
• The Valuation Tribunal for council tax support. The applicant must make an appeal online or by post to the tribunal directly.

Council’s complaints procedure

15. The Council has a complaints policy, the “Warrington Borough Council Complaints Policy”. The process has three stages. The timescales for responding at each stage is ten working days.

Background

16. In November 2021 Mr X says he wrote to the Council to request financial support for his council tax bill.
17. In May 2022 Mr X informed the Council that his son had become a carer and was due to receive a carer’s allowance which may change the household entitlement to benefits.
18. The Council obtained a liability order and attachment to benefits order for unpaid council tax for Mr X’s household.
19. In June 2022 the Council wrote to Mr X and informed him his council tax support and housing benefit had reduced. It informed him of how to appeal the decision through the Council’s benefits service.
20. Mr X complained to the Council in mid-June 2022. He told the Council that it had caused unnecessary distress when it obtained the liability order and attachment to benefits order in respect of council tax for his household. He challenged the Council’s lack of response to his request for financial support in November 2021.
21. The Council responded to Mr X in late-June 2022 and acknowledged it had not responded to his request for council tax support in November 2021. It agreed to remove the attachment to benefit order and had removed the costs associated with the liability order.
22. Mr X remained dissatisfied and requested clarification about his request for support in respect of financial hardship. He also told the Council he believed its calculation for his housing benefit and council tax support entitlement were incorrect.
23. The Council responded and informed Mr X that:
• It had checked his household entitlement for housing benefit and council tax and the calculations were correct. The reason was due to a change in household circumstances when Mr X’s son became a carer which resulted in a loss of the severe disability premium. The change was made from May 2022.
• His household had been paid £150 in discretionary payments for council tax support and it would not pay him additional discretionary payments as these are limited.
24. In mid-July 2022 Mr X appealed the Council’s decision to reduce his council tax support and housing benefit. He also requested the matter be considered at stage two of the Council’s complaints procedure.
25. The Council wrote to Mr X the following week and told him:
• His appeal for his housing benefit and council tax reduction were unsuccessful. The Council checked the entitlement and was satisfied the calculations were correct. It signposted him back to the original letters it sent in June 2022 for details of how to appeal its decision.
• He could apply for the Council’s hardship scheme, the “Household Support Fund”.
26. In late September 2022 Mr X again wrote to the Council and explained he had appealed the Council’s housing benefit and council tax reduction decisions in July 2022 without any response. He requested the appeal be sent to the tribunal service without delay.
27. The Council responded at stage three of its complaints procedure in early October 2022. It told Mr X it had found no fault in its stage one or stage two responses. It said the preparation of the housing benefit appeal for tribunal would commence in mid-October 2022. It informed Mr X he could apply for the Council’s Household Support Fund in the meantime.
28. In October 2022 Mr X wrote to the Council and requested an audit of the Council’s complaints process. He said the stage three complaint letter was unsigned by the investigating officer and that the delay in forwarding his housing benefit appeal had caused significant financial hardship.
29. The Council responded in late October 2022 and informed Mr X that it had found no evidence of maladministration. It told Mr X that his housing benefit appeal would be passed to the tribunal and he will be provided a date for his hearing. It again signposted Mr X to the Council’s discretionary housing payment scheme. It apologised for omitting the name of the senior officer in the stage three response and provided them with their details.
30. Mr X remained unhappy and brought his complaint to us.
31. In response to our enquiries, the Council said:
• It had received the request to appeal its housing benefit decision to the Social Entitlement Chamber in late September 2022 at the same time as the stage 3 complaint. The Council sent the appeal to the tribunal in November 2022. It said there was a delay in sending the paperwork as it had anticipated a claim for discretionary housing payment which it expected would resolve the financial difficulties described by Mr X.
• It had not received a request to its benefits and tax team asking for information about the process of how to appeal the Council’s council tax support decision.

Analysis

Request for discretionary payment

32. The Council accepted it had not responded to Mr X’s letter in November 2021 requesting support for the council tax bill and removed the costs associated with the liability order and attachment to benefit order. This is an appropriate action; however, the Council did not apologise for the error which caused Mr X uncertainty and distress.
33. The Council considered Mr X’s request for an additional discretionary payment for his council tax but decided not to pay him a further payment as it had already provided a discretionary payment. This is not fault. It is for the Council to decide how to award discretionary payments and it has explained its rationale.

Housing benefit appeal

34. Once the Council received the request to appeal its decision to the Social Entitlement Chamber, it sent the paperwork within six weeks. The Ombudsman expects requests of this kind should take no longer than four weeks. Whilst this is a slight delay, it did not cause Mr X a significant injustice.
35. Mr X’s appeal to the Social Entitlement Chamber has now been sent. We cannot consider matters that have been appealed to tribunal. Therefore, I will not consider this matter further.

Council tax support appeal

36. When the Council refused Mr X’s appeal about its council tax support decision, it signposted him back to its original decision letter. However, the original letter signposts him back to the Council’s benefits team. This is poor communication and is fault. Once the Council decided to uphold its original council tax support calculation, it should have signposted Mr X to the Valuation Tribunal. Not doing so caused Mr X confusion and uncertainty about the process which led to delay.

Council’s complaints process

37. The Council failed to include the name of the senior officer responding to Mr X’s stage three complaint. The Council accepted this was fault and apologised to Mr X and informed him of the name of the officer. This is appropriate to remedy any injustice caused by the fault.
38. There was no fault in the way the Council responded to Mr X’s complaints as it responded within the timescales outlined in its policy.

Back to top

Agreed action

39. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Write to Mr X and apologise for the distress and uncertainty it caused when it failed to respond to his request for council tax support in November 2021 which led to the Council obtaining an attachment to benefits order and liability order.
• Pay Mr X £100 to acknowledge the delay and uncertainty it caused when it failed to signpost him to the Valuation Tribunal about its council tax support decision.
• Re-issue its council tax support appeal decision letter and inform Mr X of his right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
40. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

41. I ended the investigation. I found fault and made recommendations to remedy the injustice caused by the fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman