Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing benefit. We found fault in the lack of a joined up approach between departments but consider the actions already taken by the Council with the addition of an apology and symbolic payment provide a suitable remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the way the Council has dealt with her housing benefit including the recovery of overpayments to July 2025. Miss X says this caused her avoidable upset and led to rent arrears which affected her housing situation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Before considering a complaint, the Ombudsman should be satisfied the Council has had an opportunity to investigate and respond to a complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have investigated Miss X’s complaint about the way the Council has dealt with her housing benefit including the recovery of overpayments to July 2025.
6. I have not investigated Miss X’s more recent complaint about deductions from her benefits as this has not completed the Council’s complaint procedure. It would be open to Mis X to make a new complaint to the Ombudsman in due course if she remains unhappy with the outcome of the Council’s complaint procedure.
7. Miss X also raised issues about the suitability of her temporary accommodation and this issue was the subject of a separate complaint to the Ombudsman and does not form part of this investigation.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

10. The following is a summary of key events. It does not include everything that happened.
11. Miss X complained to the Council at the end of March 2025 about various issues relating to her housing situation including that she had been put into rent arrears due to issue with the payment of her housing benefit.
12. The Council responded to Miss X towards the end of April about her housing issues. This response said the housing benefit issues had been forwarded to the Council’s housing benefit team to respond separately.
13. Miss X escalated her complaint at the end of April and noted the Council had not addressed her housing benefit issues. Miss X sought a breakdown of how a housing benefit overpayment of £2,633.96 had been calculated taking into account her entitlement to Enhanced Disability Premium (EDP). Miss X says the Council had not provided timely notification of the overpayment which meant she had been denied her opportunity to appeal.
14. The Council responded to Miss X about her housing benefit complaint in mid-May 2025. The Council set out the following information:

• Miss X had qualified for the maximum award of housing benefit from 28 June 2021 based on her Universal Credit entitlement as a passported benefit
• The Council noted an address change from 9 October 2021
• The Council received information from DWP on 23 July 2022 that Miss X’s universal credit had ended on 26 February 2022
• The Council suspended Miss X’s housing benefit and emailed her on 23 July 2022 for proof of her income from 26 February 2022 but did not receive a reply
• The Council obtained information about Miss X’s earnings from HMRC on 17 August 2022 which showed she was employed from 28 February 2022 to 21 April 2022 and with a different employer from 23 April 2022
• The Council amended the assessment of housing benefit on 17 August 2022 to reflect that Universal Credit had ended on 26 February 2022 and it had applied her earnings (the Council set out the amounts used) and emailed this to Miss X the same day
• The increase in income resulted in an overpayment of housing benefit of £2,633.96 for the period 7 March 2022 to 17 July 2022
• The Council wrote to Mis X about the overpayment on 18 August 2022 and set out the above information
• The Council noted Miss X had not notified it of her Universal Credit ending or starting employment at the time and it had only become aware of this change in her circumstances when the DWP information was received
• All housing benefits were recoverable unless there had been an error but this had not happened here
• The overpayment was recovered through deductions to Miss X’s ongoing housing benefit entitlement between August 2022 to May 2024 with the balance at the time of writing being £1,973.96
• The recovery of the overpayment was outside the Council’s complaint procedure as Miss X had a statutory right of appeal at the time although she was now outside the appeal period
• The Council noted its records showed Miss X was in receipt of mobility and daily living components of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from 11 December 2017 and it had applied EDP in its calculation of housing benefit as she received the enhanced rate of daily living component of PIP.
• The Council enclosed a copy of a decision notice dated 17 August 2022 detailing the disability premiums applied in its benefit calculation from 7 March 2022
• The Council also enclosed decision notices dated 20 March 2023 and 14 May 2024 detailing the premiums used in assessments
• Miss X had claimed housing benefit for her hotel temporary accommodation on 24 June 2024 and this was awarded on 25 June 2024 from 1 July 2024
• On 21 January 2025 Miss X sought backdating of housing benefit to 26 May 2023 which was refused on 24 January 2025
• Miss X emailed the Council on 24 January 2025 to seek an explanation about why her backdating request had been refused
• The Council terminated Miss X’s claim on 31 January 2025 from 7 January 2025 as her rent account was closed – the Council noted this usually happened when a tenant moved out
• Miss X had been awarded £125.21 housing benefit weekly for the hotel accommodation from 1 July 2024 to 6 January 2025 and a payment of £3398.56 for this period was made to the rent account
• the Council provided details of how it had applied Miss X’s disability premiums
• the Council sought further information from Miss X on 3 February 2025 but Miss X did not reply
• the Council wrote to say it proposed no further action on her claim on 6 March 2025
• Miss X sought a review of her housing benefit entitlement on 12 March 2025
• The Council asked Miss X for information to complete a revision of her entitlement from 26 May 2023 which Miss X provided on 22 April 2025
• This information was currently being processed and the Council would inform Miss X of the outcome in due course
• The Council noted that if Miss X had moved out of the hotel she may need to claim help with her rent through Universal Credit unless she was still living in supported or temporary accommodation

15. The Council wrote separately to Miss X on 5 June 2025 about her housing complaint and apologised for the delay in referring her housing benefit complaint to the relevant team. The Council accepted this should have been done at the outset of her complaint and it had issued a reminder to relevant staff about this requirement. The Council noted Miss X could now seek to escalate her housing benefit complaint if she remained unhappy with the response she had received in May 2025.
16. Miss X emailed the Council to escalate several concerns including that she was not made aware of the housing benefit overpayment until much later which prevented her appealing within the legal timeframe.
17. Miss X received a further response from the Council about her housing benefit complaint in early July 2025. The Council set out the following information:

• The offer of £5,000 in the Council’s response to Miss X’s housing complaint included an element for its delay in raising her separate housing benefit complaint
• The Council reiterated the chronology of events that had been set out in its previous response and highlighted an email was sent to Miss X on 17 August 2022 about her reassessment with a breakdown which explained what to do if she disagreed with the decision
• the Council had also issued Benefit Decision Notices
• the current balance was £1,852.91
• there had been no errors in the management or reassessment of Miss X’s claim and it had been her responsibility to notify the Council of the changes
• The Council had completed a priority review of her housing benefit entitlement as set out in its previous response and set out the earning figures used
• These earnings had led to the overpayment of £1,275.40 during the period from the 9 September 2024 to 6 January 2025
• Additionally, the Council had identified an underpayment of £12,655.73 for the period from 26 May 2023 to 8 September 2024, during which Miss X’s assessment was primarily based on her PIP and lower earnings
• Of this amount, £3,128.31 was applied to fully clear the following overpayments:

1.£1,852.91 (7 March 2022 – 17 July 2022),

2.£1,275.40 (09 September 2024 – 6 January 2025).

• The Council confirmed that as a result of its review that all outstanding Housing Benefit overpayments had now been cleared
• The Council confirmed it had had applied the remaining underpayments to Miss X’s rent account as follows:

• £6,096.86 paid on the 6th June 2025, reducing rent arrears to £5,694.46

• £3,496.66 paid on the 27th June 2025, with arrears now standing at £6,842.00

• The Council noted the £5000 compensation awarded following the final review of Miss X’s housing complaint had not yet been applied to her rent account and this would now take place within two weeks and an updated statement of arrears would be provided.
• The Council noted Miss X’s eligible rent was reduced to £173.08 per week from 26 May 2023. As a result, her Housing Benefit claim was cancelled from the 3 February 2025 due to excess income. However, Miss X had confirmed her income had decreased from the 23 May 2025 (as per her email of 23 June 2025) and confirmed this change had been applied to her claim.
• The Council provided a breakdown of the income figures used in the assessment dated 1 July 2025 covering the period from 3 May 2025 to 6 June 2025 which had been based on HMRC data and payslips
• The Council advised Miss X to claim Universal Credit for her daily living costs as she had now stopped working.
• The Council confirmed Miss X’s current Housing Benefit entitlement was £173.08 from 2 June 2025 and there was no shortfall in rent that she needed to cover.

18. Following the outcome of the Ombudsman’s separate investigation into Miss X’s complaint about the suitability of her temporary housing, the Council agreed to remove the £5,000 it had applied to her rent account and make this payment directly to Miss X to acknowledge her avoidable distress and living in an unsuitable property for longer than necessary. The Council also agreed to ensure any outstanding charges relating to the unsuitable temporary hotel accommodation that may be created by making this payment to Miss X were waived.
19. In responding to my enquiries on this complaint the Council provided the following information:

• On 26 April 2023, Miss X notified the Housing Benefit Service that she had moved into emergency accommodation. As a result, her Housing Benefit award for her previous accommodation was terminated from 24 April 2023.
• When assessing entitlement at the emergency accommodation, the benefit assessor was unable to locate a rent account. The assessor contacted the Housing Department on 3 May 2023 and requested further information from Miss X on 23 May 2023. A response was not received from either party. In the absence of confirmation of rent liability, the assessor refused Housing Benefit for the emergency accommodation on 5 June 2023. Miss X was notified of this decision on the same date and advised of her right to dispute the decision within one month.
• Miss X did not dispute the refusal decision until 15 February 2024. Miss X submitted evidence that she had moved to a second temporary accommodation. During the intervening period, Housing Benefit was not in payment, which contributed to arrears accruing while rent charges continued.
• On 5 April 2024 the benefits team sought licence agreements for both temporary accommodations, and Miss X was advised to submit a new application for Housing Benefit. Miss X advised that no licence agreements had been provided for either accommodation. A later application on 24 June 2024 was incorrectly refused due to non declaration of income, without further enquiries being made.
• On 13 May 2024 Housing Benefit was awarded retrospectively for the period 26 April 2023 to 14 May 2023. This resulted in a payment of £525.89, leaving a remaining arrears balance of £276.15, with the shortfall due to excess income.
• Miss X submitted another application on 22 January 2025 and requested backdating from 26 May 2023. Her eligible rent at the time was £295.49 weekly, and she was awarded £125.21 weekly with effect from 1 July 2024. The shortfall between Housing Benefit and the eligible rent is due to excess income.
• On 24 January 2025, a payment of £3398.56 covering the period 1 July 2024 to 6 January 2025 was issued to her rent account. An email was sent to Miss X to advise her of the outcome.

20. The Council has accepted there was an absence of effective interdepartmental working, particularly given that Miss X was living in temporary accommodation it had provided at the relevant time. This is fault.
21. The Council has said the lack of joined up working fell below the expected standard, especially in circumstances where multiple services are involved in supporting a resident in temporary accommodation. The Council accepted that closer coordination between the Housing and Housing Benefit services should have taken place. Although each service was undertaking its individual responsibilities, the evidence showed that information was not shared or acted on promptly which contributed to delays and resulted in avoidable financial consequences for Miss X.
22. The Council has advised the Ombudsman of the action it has taken to prevent similar issues arising in the future including reinforcing expectations around information sharing and joint working where residents in temporary accommodation are concerned. This has included clearer internal escalation processes to ensure that delays or discrepancies between services are identified and resolved more promptly. The Ombudsman would welcome this action.
23. I consider the amendments and payments outlined above, together with actions the Council has taken to avoid a reoccurrence, largely remedy the injustice caused to Miss X. However, it is clear Miss X has spent a considerable amount of time and trouble in trying to resolve her housing benefit issues and has suffered avoidable distress as a result of the Council’s failure to ensure effective joined up working.

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Action

24. The Council will take the following action within one month of my final decision:
1. write to Miss X to apologise for the lack of joined up working between its departments; and
2. make a payment to Miss X of £300 to acknowledge her avoidable distress.
25. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

27. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman