Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing benefit. It is reasonable for Miss X to appeal to the tribunal if she disagrees with the Council’s decision. We will not investigate how the Council responded to Miss X’s request for an appeal as there is nothing worthwhile to be achieved by further investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council incorrectly assessed her housing benefit. She said that had resulted in the Council adding an overpayment to her account.
2. Miss X is also unhappy about how the Council dealt with her request for an appeal. She said she had to ask for this three times. Miss X said the Council’s actions had caused her frustration and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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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. 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.
10. If someone disagrees with a decision that they must repay an overpayment, or if they disagree with the calculation of the overpayment, they can appeal to the tribunal.
11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how the Council calculated her housing benefit. Miss X has a right to appeal to the Council and then the tribunal. That is the appropriate route to challenge the Council’s decision.
12. Although Miss X is unhappy about how the Council dealt with her request for an appeal, we will not investigate this further. That is because the Council has now processed her review request as an appeal. There is nothing worthwhile to be achieved by further investigation. It is also not a good use of public resource for us to consider Miss X’s complaints about the complaint handling where we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is reasonable for her to use her right of appeal to the Council and then the tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman