Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a housing benefit overpayment appeal, a data breach committed by the Council and delays in progressing her complaints. Miss X has already used her appeal rights for the overpayment decision. It is too late to complain about matters arising before the Tribunal’s decision and the data breach as these occurred some years ago. It is reasonable to expect her to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about more recent data protection matters. Finally, we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling alone as this would not be a good use of our resources.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council delayed progressing her appeal against its housing benefit overpayment decision of 2015.
2. She said she appealed, but the Council did not progress her appeal. She said it wrongly treated her appeal as lapsed, and it started recovery action without progressing her appeal.
3. She complains the Council sent her other people’s data in error in 2017. She said the data breach left her feeling anxious about the security of her own data.
4. Miss X also complained the Council delayed responding to her stage one and two complaints.
5. Miss X would like an apology, compensation, a refund of the housing benefit repayments the Council recovered from her and an assurance the Council has learned lessons.
6. Miss X would also like the Council to confirm her housing benefit and council tax accounts reflect the tribunal’s decision.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

7. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
11. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

12. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
13. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council delayed progressing her housing benefit appeal and started recovery action.
15. The Social Entitlement Chamber recently considered Miss X’s appeal and set aside the Council’s overpayment decision of 2015. The tribunal said Miss X appealed against the overpayment decision in time, but the Council did not forward her appeal to the tribunal. We cannot investigate matters relating to issues which were decided by the tribunal.
16. I understand Miss X wants us to consider the Council’s actions which took place before the Tribunal. However, these matters go back ten years and are therefore late.
17. The Council has refunded the recovered amount of housing benefit overpayment to Ms X. It has also refunded an amount for council tax liability from 2016 to 2018. It is open to Miss X to contact the Council to check if it has updated her housing benefit or council tax accounts following the tribunal’s decision.
18. As we cannot investigate the substantive issues which has been determined by the tribunal, I have seen no reason why we should exercise discretion and consider matters which occurred over the last ten years.
19. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the data breach because it is late. The data breach happened in 2017, and she complained to us in 2026. We have seen no good reason why she could not have complained to us sooner.
20. Miss X complains about the Council’s threat to take legal action against her regarding personal data of other individuals which it sent her in error.
21. In 2025, the Council advised Miss X that she did not have its permission to retain or use personal information of third parties which it had sent to her in error. It further advised she should confirm to the Council that she has deleted or destroyed the third-party data immediately and confirm she has not shared it with anyone or make physical copies. The Council also explained that if she did not confirm the deletion/destruction of the information then it may take legal action against her.
22. I understand this threat of legal action resulted from the Council’s error in sending her information belonging to other people. However, it is entitled to require her to delete or destroy this information and to confirm she has done so.
23. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) deals with complaints about data protection. I consider it reasonable to expect Miss X to complain to the ICO about her data protection concerns.
24. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling alone as this would not be a good use of our resources.

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Final decision

25. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because:
• The tribunal has already considered her housing benefit appeal.
• the Council has refunded the recovered housing benefit overpayments and an amount of council tax relating to 2016 – 2018.
• Her complaint about the data breach of 2017 is late.
• It is reasonable to expect Ms X to complain to the ICO about the Council’s letter to her from 2025 regarding data protection concerns; and
• It is not a good use of our resources to we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling alone.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman