Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment and the Council seeking to recover it. This is because part of the complaint is late and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s recent actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has unfairly started seeking to recover a housing benefit overpayment from 2016 in 2025. He says the Council did not respond to his dispute at the time and it has not responded to his subject access request for documents it said it sent in 2016. He says this is causing him distress and anxiety.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)).
4. 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

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council in September 2025 that it failed to notify him about the overpayment and it was unfair to seek recovery nine years later.
7. The Council replied in October 2025 that Councils have a statutory duty to recover overpayments and could use third party recovery agents. The Council said it sent Mr X an overpayment notification letter in 2016 and further letters in 2018 and 2024, but had no response. The Council advised Mr X to contact the agent to make an arrangement.
8. We will not investigate this complaint because part of it is late and there is no good reason for this. Mr X was aware of the overpayment in 2016 because he said he disputed it in 2016 but received no response. He complained to the Ombudsman in early 2026. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to complain earlier about the Council not responding to his dispute.
9. We can consider recent events from 2025. However, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation. The Council explained it wrote to Mr X in 2018 and 2024 before its agent contacted Mr X in 2025.
10. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office about his complaint that the Council has not documents it sent him.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of it is late and there is no good reason for this. There is not enough evidence of fault in more recent matters to justify investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman