Lincoln City Council (25 022 023)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr Y’s application for a Discretionary Housing Payment. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Ms X complains on behalf of Mr Y the Council wrongly refused his application for a Discretionary Housing Payment. She also complains about complaint handling.
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 Y moved house. He was responsible for the rent on both homes for a week during the move. Ms X said Mr Y’s Universal Credit would only cover the rent on his current home and he could not afford to pay the rent on the previous home.
- Mr Y applied to the Council for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover the rent for his previous property for the overlapping week.
- The Council considered Mr Y’s application and told him it had decided not to award a Discretionary Housing Payment.
- The Council explained it did not consider Mr Y’s circumstances met the criteria for the scheme. It said Discretionary Housing Payments are only for tenants whose Universal Credit does not cover the full rent of the property they currently live in. It explained how Mr Y could appeal its decision.
- The Council has explained why it has declined the application and set out the criteria for the decision. It is entitled to make this decision. Based on the evidence I have seen, there is no evidence of fault in its actions.
- 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.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman