Birmingham City Council (25 028 024)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a housing benefit overpayment because there was a right of appeal to a tribunal and the matter is out of time.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to recover an overpayment of housing benefit in 2012.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he was told by the Council that an overpayment of housing benefit had been made from 2010 to 2012.
- Mr X queried this at the time. The Council wrote to him in May 2012 and advised him why the overpayment had arisen and advised him of his right of appeal to a tribunal.
- I am satisfied that Mr X could have made his complaint to this office within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. Mr X also had a right of appeal to a tribunal. The tribunal is an independent body which can determine any dispute about such decisions. I see no reason why an appeal could not have been made in this case and so the complaint is out of jurisdiction.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is out of time and there was a right of appeal to a tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman