Westmorland and Furness Council (25 013 711)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 13-Jan-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council ending his housing benefit. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault. And it is reasonable to expect him to make a latte appeal.

Salford City Council (25 014 829)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 13-Jan-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his local welfare fund applications. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation.

North East Lincolnshire Council (25 011 146)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 13-Jan-2026

Summary: We upheld Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s process for applications for Discretionary Housing Payments. This is because the Council accepted its error and has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a remedy for Ms X’s injustice and improving its service for others.

Harlow District Council (25 015 590)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 08-Jan-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Ms X’s application for a Discretionary Housing Payment because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Gravesham Borough Council (25 016 079)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 08-Jan-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a benefit overpayment as the original decision could have been appealed to a tribunal and is out of time. There is also not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Birmingham City Council (25 000 461)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 08-Jan-2026

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of his father, Mr Y about the Council’s delay in determining his housing benefit claim and resolving his council tax support. We found fault causing distress and uncertainty to Mr Y. The Council offered to apologise to Mr Y and make a symbolic payment of £300. We considered this to be a fair and proportionate remedy.

London Borough of Hackney (25 012 115)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 07-Jan-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council cancelling Mr X’s benefit and the impact of the delay. Mr X’s complaint has been made late and there is no good reason to consider it now.

London Borough of Newham (25 001 852)

Statement Upheld Housing benefit and council tax benefit 07-Jan-2026

Summary: Mr X’s representative complained on his behalf about the Council’s handling of his housing benefit reviews. They complained it had incorrectly calculated his housing benefit, delayed in responding to his requests for review and had not provided Mr X with his appeal rights. The Council was a fault for delaying to completing Mr X’s housing benefit review. However, the Council has now recalculated Mr X’s housing benefit and backdated it to 2022 which remedies part of the injustice caused to Mr X. The Council agreed to apologise and pay a symbolic payment to Mr X for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by the delay.

London Borough of Southwark (25 017 701)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 23-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a refusal of housing benefit as there is a right of appeal to tribunal.

London Borough of Islington (24 021 117)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Housing benefit and council tax benefit 17-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council not arranging a housing transfer to smaller accommodation over several years, and its decision not to provide a discretionary housing payment (DHP). This is because we cannot investigate the Council’s actions as landlord, parts of the complaint are late without good reason, and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s most recent decision making to warrant us investigating.