Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council has dealt with the recovery of housing benefit overpayments. The complaint is late and it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to use her appeal rights.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council is pursuing recovery of historic housing benefit overpayments. She says she was vulnerable and may not have been receiving the correct benefits. She also says the Council has not properly explained the overpayment.

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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.
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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Councils may pursue historic housing benefit overpayments provided the overpayments were properly decided and the person was notified of the decision and given appeal rights. The Council issued overpayment decision notices in 2019 explaining the overpayments and setting out Mrs X's appeal rights.
8. Where a council decides a person has been overpaid Housing Benefit, there is a right of appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. If Mrs X wished to dispute the overpayments, it would have been reasonable for her to use her right of appeal.
9. We normally expect people to complain to us within twelve months of becoming aware of a problem. The Council wrote to Mrs X about the overpayments in 2019. We consider each complaint on its own merits and may exercise discretion to investigate a late complaint where there are good reasons to do so. I have considered whether it would be appropriate to exercise that discretion in this case. However, I have seen no good reason why Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner.
10. Even if the complaint was not late, we would not investigate. Mrs X had a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against the Housing Benefit overpayment decisions, and it would have been reasonable for her to use that right.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The complaint is late and it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to use her appeal rights.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman