Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his housing benefit application. An investigation would be unlikely to achieve anything more.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council delayed awarding him housing benefit and then unlawfully paid it directly to his landlord without his agreement. He wants the Council to compensate him for the inconvenience and distress caused and improve its service.

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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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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 the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code. This states we will be less likely to investigate where we are unlikely to achieve a significantly different result.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint responses, the Council accepted it had delayed approving his housing benefit claim and there was some administrative errors during the process. It acknowledged this had caused him inconvenience. It said once it had approved his housing benefit claim, it had backdated it to the date of his application.
6. It also accepted it could have made more enquiries before reaching its decision to pay the housing benefit directly to Mr X’s landlord. However, it said this decision had not financially disadvantaged Mr X and he had not missed out on any benefit. Following Mr X’s request, it had now agreed to pay the housing benefit to him directly.
7. It apologised to him for the delays and offered him £50 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused.
8. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has awarded Mr X housing benefit and backdated it to the date of his application. It is also now paying the benefit to him directly. Although the Council has accepted some fault, Mr X has not missed out on any housing benefit. It has apologised to him and offered him £50 for the delays and inconvenience, which is an appropriate remedy for any distress caused. It is unlikely an investigation by us would achieve anything significantly more.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely an investigation would achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman