Summary: Miss X complained the Council delayed amending her Housing Benefit claim after she told it about a rent increase. She also complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments for her when considering her housing benefit claim. Miss X says the Council’s actions caused avoidable distress and led to financial hardship. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and a financial remedy to Miss X and reconsider her Housing Benefit claim from the date she informed the Council of the rent increase.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council delayed amending her Housing Benefit claim after she told it about a rent increase. She also complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments for her when considering her Housing Benefit claim. Miss X says the Council’s actions caused avoidable distress and anxiety and led to financial hardship. She would like the Council to backdate the adjustment to her Housing Benefit claim, provide her with an apology and financial remedy and make improvements to its Housing Benefit service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the relevant available evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
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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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Housing Benefit

7. 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.
8. The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 says a person who makes a claim, or a person to whom Housing Benefit has been awarded, shall provide documents, information and evidence regarding the claim or the award, as may reasonably be required by the relevant authority, to determine that person’s entitlement to, or continuing entitlement to Housing Benefit.

Equality Act 2010

9. The Equality Act makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. They must also have regard to the general duties aimed at eliminating discrimination under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
10. The ‘protected characteristics’ referred to in the Act are:

• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marriage and civil partnership;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race;
• religion or belief;
• sex; and
• sexual orientation.

11. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people. Service providers are under a positive and proactive duty to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles to accessing their service. If the adjustments are reasonable, they must make them.
12. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.

What happened

13. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
14. Miss X lives in rented accommodation and claims Housing Benefit. On 16 April 2024, Miss X emailed the Council. She asked the Council for help in letting it know that her landlord had increased her rent in 2023. Miss X told the Council she is disabled and asked how she could get some assistance.
15. Miss X emailed the Council again on 24 April 2024. She attached a copy of an email from her landlord from August 2023 which referred to a rent increase. Miss X said the rent increase took effect from 1 October 2023. She told the Council she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and said the Council did not seem to offer any adjustments for people with her disability to contact it.
16. The Council emailed Miss X on 30 April 2024. It asked Miss X to provide confirmation from her landlord of the date and amount of the rent increase.
17. Miss X replied on 10 May 2024 and told the Council she had provided the information about her rent increase. She said she had to pay the additional money to her landlord to make up the shortfall in her Housing Benefit and said this caused her financial difficulty.
18. The Council emailed Miss X again on 14 May 2024 and requested a letter from Miss X’s landlord to confirm the exact date and the amount of the rent increase.
19. Miss X replied on the same day and told the Council she had already provided emails to confirm the rent increase, as well as bank statements showing she had paid the new amount to her landlord. Miss X said her ADHD is severe and the Council had one of the most inaccessible systems she had tried to use. Miss X asked the Council for help in resolving the issue.
20. The Council emailed Miss X several times during May 2024. It said the documents Miss X had provided did not give enough detail to confirm the rent increase. The Council told Miss X it may contact her landlord directly to resolve the issue if Miss X provided her written consent.
21. Miss X emailed the Council on 28 May 2024. She said it had been over a month since she sent notification of the rent increase, but the Council had still not amended her Housing Benefit claim. Miss X said she had already explained she is disabled and was struggling to use the Council’s system.
22. Miss X sent several further emails to the Council during June 2024 maintaining she had provided evidence of her rent increase.

Miss X’s complaint

23. On 9 July 2024, Miss X complained to the Council. Miss X complained the Council had not amended her Housing Benefit even though she had provided it with an email from her landlord about the rent increase, and another email which confirmed the date of the increase. Miss X said she had asked for help in using the Council’s services because she is disabled and found accessing its systems difficult, and that the Council was required to accommodate her requests.
24. The Council called Miss X on the same day. It explained that the information she had provided to date was not sufficient because it related to a proposed rent increase. The Council asked Miss X for written consent for it to contact her landlord on her behalf.
25. Miss X provided her consent to the Council on the same day.
26. On 10 July 2024, the Council contacted Miss X’s landlord and requested confirmation of the rent increase. The Council received this on the same day.
27. The Council notified Miss X that it had amended her Housing Benefit claim on 15 July 2024.
28. On 29 July 2024, the Council provided its complaint response. The Council said it wrote to Miss X on 30 April 2024 to ask for confirmation from her landlord of the date and amount of the rent increase. It acknowledged the correspondence with Miss X during May and June 2024 regarding this matter but said it did not receive sufficient information to amend the benefit award until 10 July 2024. The Council said it considered the decision to award the rent increase from 15 July 2024 was correct.
29. Miss X replied on the same day and asked the Council why no-one helped her when she first requested assistance in April 2024.
30. The Council responded to Miss X on 1 August 2024. It said the information Miss X provided on 24 April 2024 was a proposal of rent and did not confirm if the increase was agreed; it said the information was therefore not acceptable as evidence of a rent increase. The Council said it received acceptable evidence on 10 July 2024 and amended Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim from 15 July 2024. The Council said it had assisted Miss X by calling her on 9 July 2024, and by contacting her landlord on her behalf.
31. The Council provided a further response to Miss X on 21 August 2024. The Council said it is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and has policies in place to provide services to meet the needs of its customers. The Council said it had offered to contact Miss X’s landlord in May 2024 if she provided written authority, but Miss X had not provided this. The Council said it had therefore been unable to progress Miss X’s change in circumstances.
32. The Council said it received consent to contact Miss X’s landlord in July 2024 and had obtained evidence of the rent increase as a result. It said the Council’s benefit service had acknowledged Miss X’s disability and provided details of organisations that could help and support her.
33. Miss X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and brought her complaint to the Ombudsman.

Analysis – Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in amending her Housing Benefit claim

34. Miss X contacted the Council on 24 April 2024 and provided an email from her landlord proposing a rent increase; the email proposed a new rental charge but did not specify the landlord had decided upon the new rental amount.
35. Following this contact, the Council asked Miss X to provide confirmation from her landlord of the date and amount of the rent increase. Miss X and the Council exchanged numerous emails between 30 April 2024 and 9 July 2024 regarding the evidence required. The Council repeated its request for confirmation from the landlord and Miss X provided the same information, as well as a further email from her landlord (dated 13 March 2024) which stated the rent increase took effect from 1 October 2023.
36. As stated above, Housing Benefit regulations say that someone making a claim for Housing Benefit should provide evidence relating to their claim as is reasonably required by the authority, to determine their continuing benefit entitlement.
37. The Council says it did not receive sufficient evidence of the rent increase to amend Miss X’s claim until 10 July 2024. It amended the claim from the Monday date following receipt of the information.
38. The Council’s explanation that it did not have sufficient information to amend Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim prior to this date is reasonable. This is because the information provided to it prior to 10 July 2024 did not explicitly state the amount of the agreed rent increase.
39. It is for the Council to decide what evidence is sufficient to determine a person’s Housing Benefit entitlement. In this case, the Council considered the email from the landlord received on 10 July 2024 was sufficient and it amended Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim accordingly. As a result, the Council is not at fault regarding this aspect of the complaint.

Miss X’s complaint that the Council did not make reasonable adjustments

40. On 16 April 2024, Miss X asked the Council to help her regarding letting it know about her rent increase. Miss X told the Council at this time that she is disabled and needed assistance with this matter.
41. Miss X told the Council about her rent increase again on 24 April 2024 and again told the Council she is disabled. Miss X said the Council did not seem to offer any adjustments to people with her disability regarding making contact with the Council.
42. I acknowledge the Council told Miss X on several occasions in May 2024 that it may contact her landlord on her behalf if she provided written consent. However, the Council was aware on 16 April 2024 that due to her disability, Miss X said she required assistance in liaising with it.
43. As previously stated, the Equality Act 2010 places a positive and proactive duty on service providers to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles to accessing their service. This duty is anticipatory which means service providers must think in advance about what disabled people with a range of impairments might reasonably need.
44. I have seen no evidence the Council asked Miss X what type of assistance she required to access its services following her contact on 16 April 2024, and no evidence prior to the phone call on 9 July 2024 that the Council fully explained why the information provided by Miss X was not sufficient. Prior to this it continued to request information and correspond with Miss X via email despite Miss X stating she struggled to use the Council’s systems.
45. The Council says it considers its communication with Miss X was effective throughout and that Miss X’s use of email did not appear to be an issue. I acknowledge the Council says it has a record of Miss X informing it that her preferred choice of communication was by email. The Council says Miss X has made frequent written contact with it about a number of issues, demonstrating she is able to access its services.
46. I acknowledge the Council’s comments regarding the contact made by Miss X, and its comments that Miss X had previously expressed a preference to be contacted by email. However, service users’ needs can change over time. The Council had a duty to consider what type of reasonable adjustments Miss X may need and should have clarified what adjustments she may require following her contact on 16 April 2024. The evidence indicates the Council failed to do this and I have found this to be fault.
47. On the balance of probabilities, had the Council made reasonable adjustments to assist Miss X in providing the appropriate information in April 2024, it is more likely than not the Council would have obtained the required information and would have amended Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim at that time.
48. The fault identified caused avoidable distress to Miss X in addition to a quantifiable financial impact, (the increased amount of rent paid by Miss X for the period 16 April 2024 to 14 July 2024).
49. The Council says it has begun embedding the learning from this complaint into its processes. It says if a service user states they are having difficulty, the Council will ensure it asks directly about their communication preferences and the options available, even where a preference has already been made clear. It is positive the Council is taking this action; however I do not consider this fully addresses the injustice identified.

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Action

50. To address the injustice identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of the final decision:
1. Apologise to Miss X for the fault identified. 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;
2. Make a symbolic payment of £150 in recognition of the avoidable distress caused;
3. Reconsider Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim regarding the rent increase, for the period 16 April 2024 to 14 July 2024, and
4. Remind Housing Benefit staff of the Council’s duty as part of the Equality Act 2010 to consider and provide reasonable adjustments to service users, specifically with regard to how service users may require assistance to provide relevant information that may affect their benefit entitlement.
51. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

52. I have found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to take the above actions to remedy the injustice identified and I have therefore concluded my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman