Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council is not providing enough support to help the complainant pay her rent. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, says the Council is not providing enough help with her rent and this is causing financial pressure.

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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 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

3. I considered information provided by Ms X. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Ms X used to live in a two bedroom property which she rented from a social landlord. She has a carer and needs two bedrooms. Ms X received housing benefit which paid all her rent.
5. Ms X moved to her current two bedroom home which she rents from a private landlord. The rent is £750 a month (£173 a week). The maximum amount of housing benefit that a private tenant can receive is based on the Local Housing Allowance rate (LHA). Councils do not set the LHA rate but must apply it and cannot pay more than the LHA rate. The LHA rate for a two bedroom property in Ms X’s area is £598 a month (£138 a week).
6. The Council pays Ms X the maximum amount of housing benefit based on the LHA rate (£138 a week). This is less than her rent so she must pay a shortfall of £151 a month.
7. In response to her complaint the Council explained Ms X now receives less support with her rent because she moved from social to private rented housing. It explained the LHA rules and that it is paying the maximum amount of housing benefit payable under the LHA rules. It invited Ms X to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) which helps people pay the shortfall. It also invited her to apply for social housing where more help would be available with the rent.
8. I appreciate Ms X is in a difficult financial situation, but I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council correctly explained the LHA rules and that it cannot pay any more housing benefit due to those rules. It also explained why Ms X received more help in her previous home. The Council invited Ms X to apply for a DHP which would, at least for a few months, provide some additional help with the rent. In addition, the Council offered to refer Ms X to the housing team for help in applying for social housing.
9. There is nothing to suggest fault in the way the Council responded to Ms X and no indication of fault in the amount of housing benefit it awarded. As such there is no reason to start an investigation. Further, we cannot tell the Council to increase the housing benefit and the Council has already offered additional support.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman