London Borough of Croydon (25 001 487)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to award him a discretionary housing payment. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision not to award him a discretionary housing payment. He also complains about delay. He says he had to borrow money to pay his rent.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says he was overpaid a benefit he now must repay. He says he could not afford to pay his rent and had to borrow money from his family.
- Mr X applied for a discretionary housing benefit payment. The Council refused his application within two weeks. Mr X appealed and the Council upheld its decision.
- The Council explained the scheme is not for shortfalls caused by benefit overpayment recovery. It also said it could not award the money to repay his family member as it has a limited fund to help as many people as possible.
- The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision.
- I will not investigate this complaint. In making its decision, the Council has acted in line with its policy. Based on the evidence I have seen, the Council followed the correct procedures when making this decision and, therefore, I cannot criticise it.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman