Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Ms T’s housing benefit claim. This is because the Council has agreed to remedy the injustice.

The complaint

1. Ms T complains the Council failed to pay full housing benefit from 2020. This was due to it not taking account of two of her children. She states that she had provided evidence to the Council. She says as a result she has rent arrears, and the Council is threatening eviction.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended).
4. If someone disagrees with a council’s decision regarding their housing benefit they can appeal to the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Ms T and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms T moved into her home in 2020. She says she provided evidence of all her children to the Council.
7. In May 2023 Ms T said she became aware the Council had not included her children in her housing benefit claim. She told the Council. However, it was not until July 2024 that the Council revised her claim, and then it only paid full housing benefit from July 2024.
8. In November 2024 Ms T complained to the Council that she had provided all the information about her children from the start, but it had not backdated this.
9. The Council accepted Ms T had advised it of her children in May 2023 and so it added them from that date. However, it said she had not advised it before this and so it would not revise her claim for the period before May 2023.
10. The Council confirmed it has not sent a notification letter to Ms T about its decision to pay housing benefit from May 2023 but not for an earlier period. Ms T did not have an explanation of the decision with formal appeal rights. Therefore, she could not appeal to the Tribunal.
11. If we investigated this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it did not send a notification letter to Ms T about its decision and did not provide her with her right of appeal.
12. We therefore asked to the Council to consider remedying the injustice by apologising to Ms T and providing a written decision with appeal rights to resolve the complaint early.

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Agreed action

13. The Council has agreed within one month of my decision to:
• apologise to Ms T and
• send her a decision letter regarding the period February 2020 to 21 May 2023 which includes the Council’s reasons and details of the right of appeal to the First- Tier Tribunal.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms T’s complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman