Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his housing benefit claims. This is because the matter is already subject to tribunal proceedings and there is no evidence of injustice to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council ignored his housing benefit applications and delayed sending one of his appeals to the tribunal service. Mr X wants to be compensated for the delays.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. The Social Entitlement Chamber (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers housing benefit appeals. (The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal)
4. 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X made housing benefit claims in May 2024 and October 2024.The Council did not progress his first application because Mr X did not provide the information the Council asked for. Mr X made a complaint to the Council in June 2024 and it responded within the same month. The Council gave him a Stage 2 response in September 2024. The Council submitted the appeal in September 2024 and the tribunal held the hearing in March 2025.
8. Mr X made his second housing benefit application in October 2024 and in November he asked the Council to send it to the tribunal. However, the Council did not send it to the tribunal until February 2025 due to a mistake in processing. The Council apologised. The tribunal service has not yet scheduled a hearing date.
9. The Council says delays happened during its processing of both applications because it had problems getting information from Mr X, such as his bank details and proving rental liability. During this time, the Council had many discussions with Mr X explaining why it needed the information and suggesting alternatives.
10. I cannot start an investigation because we cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to the tribunal about the same matter.
11. Mr X wants compensation for the delays. We can investigate matters that occur before someone appeals but we will not do so because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. This is because the outcome of one appeal is unknown and so we cannot yet decide if any delay caused injustice. And because the Council could not have made a payment on the other claim, due to the lack of bank details.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is subject to tribunal proceedings and there is no evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman