London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (23 009 384)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Oct 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint from a housing benefit claimant that the Council is wrongly asking him to repay an overpayment of benefit. This is because the claimant has a right of appeal to a statutory tribunal about this matter.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I shall call Mr B, complained the Council is wrongly claiming back an overpayment of housing benefit (HB) from him. In particular Mr B said the Council had mistakenly counted a benefit he is no longer entitled to as part of his income.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- The Social Entitlement Chamber (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers housing benefit appeals.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Mr B provided with his complaint and information from the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- HB claimants who disagree with a council’s overpayment decision have a right of appeal to the Tribunals Service. Claimants appeal to the council at first. The council then carries out a reconsideration. If the claimant disagrees with the council’s review decision they can ask it to send their appeal to the Tribunals Service. Appeals must be made in writing to be valid.
- The Council says that Mr B asked for an appeal but did not put it in writing. The Council said it wrote to Mr B several months ago asking him for more information about his claim and advising him to make his appeal in writing. The Council says Mr B has still not made a valid appeal.
- I see no reason Mr B cannot continue with his appeal by putting it in writing to the Council. Therefore I consider we should not investigate his complaint as he can still use his right of appeal to the Tribunals Service.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council is wrongly claiming he should repay an overpayment of housing benefit. This is because Mr B can use his right of appeal to a statutory tribunal about this matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman