Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council not paying housing benefit. This is because Ms X has taken court action on the matter.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council is refusing to pay her housing benefit, despite the ruling from the First Tier Tribunal (the tribunal) that she is entitled to it. Ms X says the ending of her housing benefit has led to the Council threatening her with eviction because of rent arrears.
2. Ms X also complains the Council is pressuring her, and potentially other vulnerable residents, to knowingly provide the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) with false information so she can get Universal Credit.
3. Ms X wants the Council to pay her housing benefit.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Ms X.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. A tribunal ruled that Ms X’s housing was housing whose occupants could receive housing benefit. However, the Council has stopped paying Ms X housing benefit. Ms X has applied to the county court to order the Council to pay her housing benefit. So, we cannot investigate this complaint because of the restriction in paragraph 5.
10. We cannot investigate the Council’s actions relating to Ms X’s rent arrears. This concerns the Council’s management of its social housing in its capacity as a registered provider of social housing, so the restriction in paragraph 6 applies.
11. The Council says its advice to Ms X about giving information to the DWP was based on the Council’s understanding of her situation. The Council also says it advised Ms X to seek independent advice. I do not consider this point significant enough in itself to warrant investigation of whether the Council was at fault here when we are not investigating the more substantive parts of the complaint about Ms X’s housing benefit.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council not obeying the tribunal decision because she has taken court action. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords. It would be disproportionate to investigate in isolation the point about giving information to the DWP.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman