Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to stop Ms X’s Housing Benefit. This decision is appealable to the Tribunal and it would be reasonable for Ms X to appeal.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council bullied her when it wrongly suspended and then stopped her Housing Benefit.
2. Ms X states this has caused her mental and physical distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating,
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council suspended Ms X’s Housing Benefit after she failed to provide the information it requested. It later stopped her Housing Benefit and said the best option to take was for her to appeal to the Tribunal about its decision.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. Ms X can appeal to the Tribunal about the Council’s decision to stop her Housing Benefit and I can see no good reason why she should not.
10. There is no evidence the Council bullied Ms X. It apologised if she found its requests for information confusing or frustrating but explained that it needed these details to progress her case. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and so further investigation is unlikely to reach a different finding.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no good reason why she should not appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman