Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision it had overpaid Miss X’s housing benefit. Miss X has used her right of appeal to a tribunal, so we cannot consider the matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council wrongly calculated it had overpaid her housing benefit, which it is now trying to recover. She said she does not owe this as the Council used the wrong figures to calculate her family’s monthly income. Miss X said this caused stress and anxiety.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Tribunal can decide whether the Council is correct about the overpayments. In this case, soon after Miss X complained to us, she asked the Council for an appeal to the Tribunal. The Council told us it has now passed the appeal to the Tribunal. As Miss X has used her right to appeal to the Tribunal, we cannot investigate her complaint, as paragraph 2 explained.

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Final decision

7. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has already used her appeal right.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman