Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged delay telling Mr X he had claimed the wrong benefit. The complaint is late without good reason to accept it now. Also, investigation is unlikely to find enough evidence that any fault by the Council resulted in Mr X not having help with his housing costs.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains, through his representative, that after Mr X claimed housing benefit (HB) in June 2019, the Council took until May 2022 to say Mr X could not get HB and should instead seek Universal Credit (UC) for his housing costs. He also complains the Council wrongly said Mr X had tried to take advantage of the benefits system. The representative says this caused Mr X stress and financial problems as he had to pay his rent himself, whereas he would have claimed UC earlier had the Council explained this earlier.

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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. 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)
3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X’s representative.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council manages HB. Central government (the Department for Work and Pensions) manages UC.
8. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman, via his representative, in September 2023. His complaint form said he had claimed housing benefit (HB) in June 2019, but the Council did not tell him until May 2022 he would have to claim UC instead. However, in a supporting document presented with the complaint to us, Mr X’s representative said the Council had told Mr X this in September 2021. Whether it was May 2022 or September 2021, it was more than 12 months before complaining to us, so the restriction in paragraph 2 applies.
9. The Council’s letter of 23 September 2021 was to Mr X and copied to his representative. Some wording was technical and legalistic, but the final page stated Mr X ‘…cannot make a claim for HB’ and ‘…you should be submitting a claim for UC via the Department for Work and Pensions.’ So I consider the representative’s reference to knowing the Council’s position by September 2021 at the latest, not May 2022, is more accurate.
10. I understand Mr X has mental health problems and learning difficulties. His representative says the COVID-19 pandemic also affected how quickly Mr X could pursue matters. Those points might mean it would take longer to complain to us. However, Mr X was obviously able to deal with some matters via his representative, such as corresponding with the Council again from March to October 2022. Even after the Council’s final complaint response on 7 October 2022 said Mr X could complain to us, his representative did not contact us for a further 11 months. Overall, I consider the complaint could reasonably have been made to us considerably sooner. I am not persuaded there are good enough reasons to pursue the complaint now.
11. Also, there is evidence the Council told Mr X and his representative of its position much earlier than September 2021 or May 2022. The Council wrote to Mr X’s representative on 27 January 2020 saying Mr X was not entitled to HB and adding ‘…therefore I suggest [Mr X] try to claim University Credit [sic] rent element instead.’ I note some of that two-page letter was in somewhat technical language. However, I consider it would have been sufficiently clear to the representative, whose organisation claims expertise in welfare and benefits matters, that the Council was saying Mr X could not get HB. It would also have been clear the reference to ‘University Credit’ was a typing error and meant Universal Credit.
12. As summarised in paragraph 2, the law says someone should complain to the Ombudsman with 12 months of the day they ‘first had notice of the matter.’ It therefore appears Mr X and his representative first had notice in January 2020 that the Council thought Mr X should seek UC rather than HB. That was three years and eight months before the complaint to us. Mr X and his representative were evidently able to pursue matters with the Council at times during that period. In the circumstances, I am not persuaded there are good enough reasons for us to accept the complaint so late.
13. Mr X is also aggrieved the Council’s first decision on his HB claim in August 2019 said he was trying to take advantage of the benefits system. Mr X knew about that four years before complaining to us. While I note Mr X’s mental health and learning difficulties, he has been able to pursue matters via his representative at times since then. I do not consider there are good enough reasons to accept this late complaint now.
14. Even if the points above about the timescale did not apply, we would still not investigate the complaint. This is because, as explained above, the Council’s letter of 27 January 2020 was sufficiently clear the Council believed Mr X could not get HB but could try to claim UC for housing costs instead. This is the central point of the complaint. So I am not persuaded by claims the Council failed to say this until 2021 or 2022 or that the Council is therefore responsible for Mr X’s not receiving UC in the meantime. So any investigation by us would be unlikely to find enough evidence the Council was at fault for most of the alleged period.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The complaint is late without good reason to accept it now. Also, investigation is unlikely to conclude any fault by the Council directly resulted in Mr X not having help with housing costs.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman