Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to stop her housing benefit. This is because part of her complaint is late and we have seen no good reason why she could not have come to us sooner. I have not found enough evidence of fault to warrant investigating the other part of her complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to stop her housing benefit. She says she did not receive the Council’s decision letter in 2023, and therefore she was unaware that her claim was going to be stopped. She also complains about the Council’s refusal to accept her recent appeal.

Back to top

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.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. The Council wrote to Mrs X in April 2023 to tell her that her housing benefit would be stopped. Mrs X had one month to ask the Council to reconsider its decision or to appeal the decision to the Tribunal.
8. Mrs X then appealed in August 2025. She said her appeal was late because she did not receive the decision letter.
9. However, I consider it reasonable to expect that Mrs X would have noticed her housing benefit had stopped in 2023, even taking postal problems into account.
10. I also note Mrs X has not given any other reasons to explain why her appeal was late. She then came to us in January 2026, nearly three years after the Council’s decision.
11. I will therefore not investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint because it is late. The matters she complains of took place nearly three years ago and I have seen no good reason why she could not have come to us sooner.
12. Mrs X also complained the Council refused her late appeal. She said the Council relied on rigid time limits. I have not found enough evidence of fault to justify investigating this part of her complaint. This is because councils can accept appeals for a maximum period of 13 calendar months from the date of the decision and they are entitled to refuse appeals made outside this time limit.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because part of it is late and there is no good reason why she could not have come to us sooner. I have not found enough evidence of fault to warrant investigating the other part of her complaint.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman