Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an overpayment of housing benefit. The overpayment is not being recovered by the Council and is a matter which falls within the remit of the Department for Work and Pensions which deals with universal credit matters. We have no jurisdiction to investigate a government body.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X complained about the Council’s creation of an overpayment caused by payment of housing benefit and universal credit for the same period. They say the overpayment was created due to a procedural error from 2021 and that they were unaware of the payments until notified this year. They believe the Council should not recover the money which they received unintentionally.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr and Mrs X were informed by the Council in 2023 that they had been receiving housing benefit and universal credit payments for the same address since November 2021. The Council had only recently been made aware of this and as a result the payments were overpaid by almost £9,000.
6. Mr and Mrs X said they should not be pursued for this amount because the matter was due to a procedural error. The Council investigated the matter and informed them that it would refund the amount of the overpayment because The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 do not allow the local authority to recover overpayments under the Housing Benefit Regulations. Regulation10 requires that any overpayment made in the transitional period must be recovered as a Universal Credit overpayment.
7. Normally we would be unable to investigate a complaint about a benefits overpayment because there is a right of appeal to the independent first tier tribunal. However, because this overpayment falls within the remit of the Department for Work and pensions, we have no jurisdiction to consider it. The Council has no powers to recover it from the complainants and so we cannot investigate its actions.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about an overpayment of housing benefit. The overpayment is not being recovered by the Council and is a matter which falls within the remit of the Department for Work and Pensions which deals with universal credit matters. We have no jurisdiction to investigate a government body.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman