Cheshire East Council (25 009 557)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 19 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s Housing Benefit and his Council Tax. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council wrongly sought to recover an overpayment in Housing Benefit from ongoing payments. He also complains the Council made an unjustified Council Tax demand.
- Mr X says this caused him financial and psychological distress.
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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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
- If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it has already accepted it made errors, firstly by making Housing Benefit payments when it knew Mr X was homeless and in the way it managed the repayments of this overpayment, and secondly by sending an incorrect Council Tax demand.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by apologising to Mr X and making a recognition payment in the sum of £150.
Agreed action
- To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint in line with this, and also said it will waive the outstanding repayments.
- The Council will therefore issue an apology in line with our Guidance on remedies, confirming the waiver of outstanding repayments, and make a payment of £150 within 4 weeks of this decision.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman