Summary: The Council was at fault for ending Ms X’s housing benefit claim early and before her new tenancy began. This meant Ms X accrued arrears on her rent account. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and amend her rent account to reflect her correct tenancy start date and write off the arrears accrued during this period.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council ended her housing benefit claim without notifying her or providing her with a decision she could appeal.
2. Ms X said this caused her to accumulate a large debt and she is now in arrears. Had she known her housing benefit was ending Ms X said she could have applied for Universal Credit sooner.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have not investigated any issues Ms X had with how her Universal Credit application was managed.
6. Universal Credit is a payment to help with living costs (including rent). It replaced housing benefit. The Department for Work and Pensions, which is not part of the Council manages Universal Credit. This means I cannot consider complaints about it. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman may decide to investigate complaint about DWP.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Housing Benefit

9. The Council manages and pays Housing Benefit which helps eligible people on low incomes pay their rent. Regulations set out the rules councils must follow for calculating and paying Housing Benefit. Usually the Council pays the tenant housing benefit. The tenant is then responsible for paying the rent to their landlord.
10. If someone disagrees with a housing benefit decision they can ask the council for a review. If they have a review, and are not happy with the decision, they can then appeal to the tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong.

What happened

11. Ms X was living in temporary accommodation provided by the Council. She was in receipt of housing benefit which covered her rent. The Council intended to move Ms X’s tenancy over to Enfield Let Accredited Agents (ELAA).
12. In September 2023, the Council sent residents including Ms X a generic email in about the transfer of these tenancies to ELAA. The email said ELAA would be in touch to complete the signing of the new contract and that residents needed to apply for Universal Credit housing element.
13. On 19 January 2024 the Council emailed Ms X with the proposed tenancy agreement and told her if she was not claiming Universal Credit housing element she would need to apply for this as she would no longer be eligible for housing benefit when her tenancy transfers to ELAA. Ms X replied to this email and said she accepted the terms.
14. On 9 February 2024, the Council moved Ms X over to ELAA. This was a private company owned by the Council. Once Ms X’s tenancy transferred to ELAA she became a private tenant and was no longer in temporary accommodation. Ms X signed a new rental agreement dated 9 February 2024. The Council ended Ms X’s housing benefit however on 29 January 2024.
15. On 11 March 2024, the Council wrote to Ms X and told her it had ended her housing benefit claim. This letter informed Ms X of her appeal rights. The Council also told her she needed to apply for Universal Credit to cover the costs of her housing.
16. Ms X applied for Universal Credit in March 2024, however it took until September 2024 for her claim to be processed with the housing element in place. As a result, she accrued a large amount of rent arrears. In September 2024, Ms X received a backed payment of Universal Credit, however this was only backdated to March 2024. Ms X still had arrears from the 29 January 2024 to March 2024 outstanding.
17. In early December 2024, Ms X complained to the Council about the way it cancelled her housing benefit payments. Ms X said she did not understand where the outstanding debt the Council said she owed was calculated.
18. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in mid-December 2024. The Council said her housing benefit ended at the end of January 2024 as her agreement changed from temporary accommodation to private rented. The Council said its rents services team helped Ms X transition from housing benefit to Universal Credit and helped her to make the claim.
19. A few days after receiving the Council’s complaint response, Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint further. Ms X said the Council did not support her when her agreement moved from temporary accommodation to ELAA.
20. Ms X with the help of an advice organisation chased up a response to her complaint in February and May 2025.
21. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman as she had not received a final response to her complaint. Following this our service contacted the Council and asked it to provide a complaint response.
22. On 1 August 2025, the Council sent Ms X’s its final response to her complaint. The Council said Ms X’s agreement changed to private rented in January 2024, but she only started getting Universal Credit from March 2024. This left arrears of over £3,000 on her rent account. The Council said the ELLA scheme wrote to her on 22 March 2024 and told her to apply for Universal Credit. The Council said prior to this Ms X would have received a formal letter from the Council and a phone call explaining the changes.
23. Ms X remained dissatisfied and complained to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

24. Ms X’s tenancy agreement moved over to ELAA on 9 February 2024. Before this happened there is email evidence showing the Council told Ms X she needed to apply for Universal Credit as housing benefit would end. There is evidence showing Ms X accepted this. I do not consider the Council at fault for failing to tell Ms X she needed to claim Universal Credit as a result of her tenancy being moved to ELAA.
25. While Ms X did not apply for Universal Credit until March 2024, I am satisfied she could have applied sooner as she was made aware her tenancy type was changing and needed to apply for Universal Credit.
26. The Council was at fault for cancelling her housing benefit on 29 January 2024. The Council should not have done this as Ms X’s new tenancy had not started so she was still entitled to receive housing benefit up until 9 February 2024. As a result, through no fault of her own Ms X accrued arrears on her account between 29 January 2024 and 9 February 2024.
27. There was also fault with the Council’s complaint handling. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint at stage two in December 2024, however it took the Council until August 2025 to provide her with a stage two response. Ms X had to chase the Council up several times and then contact our service as she still had not received a response. It was only after we contacted the Council it provided Ms X with its final response to her complaint. As a result, Ms X had to wait much longer than she should have done to complete the Council’s complaints process and bring her complaint to the Ombudsman to consider.

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Agreed Action

28. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused by the above faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Refund Ms X the arrears onto her rent account from 29 January 2024 to 9 February 2024 to reflect her correct tenancy start date.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

30. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman