Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to properly administer Ms X’s housing benefit and failure to appropriately deal with her homelessness application. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for why she did not complain earlier. In addition, the complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s homelessness application is premature as it has not yet completed the Council’s complaints procedure.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to properly administer her housing benefit. She says this resulted in her family being evicted. She also complains the Council failed to deal with her subsequent homelessness application appropriately and failed to provide her with housing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
3. 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)
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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. In September 2019, Ms X appealed a possession order that had been awarded to her landlord. During this appeal, the judge noted there had been a housing benefit shortfall of just over £555.
10. This complaint element is late. Ms X was aware of a housing benefit shortfall in 2019 when the judge issued their decision. If Ms X considered the Council had failed to pay back this shortfall, she should have complained about the matter earlier. There are no good reasons as to why she did not.
11. In any case, the Council confirmed it had paid this shortfall to Ms X. The evidence provided by the Council shows the amount of housing benefit paid to Ms between August 2018 and August 2021 is the amount she was due to be paid.
12. Therefore, even if this complaint was not late, I would not investigate the complaint as the evidence shows the Council appropriately remedied the fault by paying Ms X the shortfall identified.
13. In September 2021, the Council asked Ms X for evidence of her income so it would review her housing benefit award. As Ms X failed to provide the requested information, the Council cancelled her housing benefit claim from 1 August 2021. The Council also cancelled Ms X’s council tax support.
14. The Council appropriately advised Ms X of her right to appeal this decision. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have used her right of appeal.
15. I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her homeless application as it is premature. This is because the Council has only provided a stage one response to this complaint, in August 2022. The next stage is for Ms X to escalate her complaint to stage 2. The Council confirmed it had not received any request from Ms X for it to deal with her complaint at stage 2.
16. It is open to Ms X to ask the Council to respond to this complaint at stage 2. Once she has completed the Council’s complaints procedure, she can refer the complaint to us. We will then consider the complaint to decide whether we can, and should, investigate.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for why she did not complain earlier. In addition, her complaint is premature as it has not yet completed the Council’s complaints procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman