Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recover a housing benefit overpayment. This is because it is reasonable to expect Miss X to use her right of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council are recovering housing benefit overpayments from 2018. Miss X also complained the Council did not investigate her complaint.
2. Miss X said the Council's actions has caused her stress and affected her health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Miss X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X received overpayment of housing benefit, and the Council asked for repayment when told of her change in circumstances.
9. If someone disagrees with a decision about an overpayment they can appeal to the tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong. The tribunal can accept a late appeal up to 13 months from the date of the decision. Because the person can appeal, we would normally decide not to investigate complaints about these decisions.
10. Miss X received an informal response to her complaint which included a revised repayment amount and reminded Miss X of her right to appeal.
11. Based on the documents, Miss X is aware of her right to appeal, and I have not seen any reason why it would not be reasonable for her to use her right of appeal.
12. Nor will we investigate a complaint about how the Council communicated over this matter. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X complaint as it is reasonable to expect her to appeal to the First Tier Tribunal. It is reasonable to expect her to use the right as she has been notified of her right to appeal by the Council and only the tribunal can decide on this matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman