Dover District Council (24 005 632)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Sep 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Housing Benefit overpayment. It is reasonable to expect him to appeal to the Tribunal.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council has failed to take into account his disability needs when it issued a Housing Benefit overpayment notice.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review 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 use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council issued a Housing Benefit overpayment notice. It said it had done so because it had become aware of a change in Mr X’s income. It told Mr X he had a right to request a review and a right of appeal to the Tribunal.
- Mr X says he wanted a representative to assist with the notice. He says he told the Council he wanted the Council to do this. He says this has not happened.
- If a council pays too much housing benefit to someone, it will usually ask them to repay it. The law says the council can recover overpayment 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.
- If someone disagrees with a decision that they must repay an overpayment they can appeal to the Tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong. The Tribunal can accept a late appeal up to 13 months from the date of the decision. Because of this opportunity for appeal, we would not normally investigate complaints about these decisions.
- It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal. It is a process he is able to access and can seek assistance from the Tribunal for his disabled needs to do so.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Housing Benefit overpayment because it is reasonable to expect him to appeal to the Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman