Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged housing benefit overpayment. The complaint is late without good enough reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council acted wrongly in deciding it had overpaid her housing benefit (HB) and in recovering the alleged overpayment from her. She says this caused financial problems, she feels oppressed and helpless and finds it difficult dealing with other authorities because of her experience with the Council.

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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 the complainant and copy complaint correspondence from the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Late complaint to the Ombudsman

7. In April 2016 the Council decided it had overpaid Miss X £5865.17 of HB during 2015. Miss X knew by February 2017 her benefit claim had been cancelled, as she asked for a reconsideration then and contacted her Member of Parliament (MP). She knew in 2018 the Council was recovering the money by deduction from other benefits.
8. Miss X raised this again with the Council, again via an MP, in early 2019. The Council replied to the MP in March 2019 that it would not suspend the recovery from Miss X’s other benefits.
9. Miss X states she did not receive the March 2019 response from her MP. That does not significantly affect my view on the complaint to the Ombudsman. Miss X knew she had contacted her MP, so she could reasonably have chased the MP when she did not have a response. For us, the key points here are that Miss X knew between 2017 and 2019 that: her HB had been cancelled; the Council believed it had overpaid the HB; the Council was recovering the claimed overpayment; and the Council had not stopped recovery action.
10. So Miss X knew between 2017 and 2019 that something had happened that affected her. She did not need to know all the detailed reasoning behind what had happened in order to complain to the Ombudsman. Miss X did not complain to the Ombudsman until October 2023. Therefore the complaint is late and the restriction in paragraph 3 applies.
11. I am mindful of Miss X’s difficult circumstances, especially from 2015 to 2018, as mentioned above. Those circumstances could reasonably have delayed Miss X somewhat in dealing with the HB matter. However, I am not persuaded those circumstances are good enough reason to investigate the complaint so many years after the events and so long after Miss X knew about the matter. Complaining to us is not complex or onerous. In all the circumstances, Miss X could reasonably have come to us considerably sooner.

Right to appeal to tribunal

12. I understand the Council wrote to Miss X in April 2016 saying it believed it had overpaid had and it intended to recover the overpayment from her. Miss X would have had the right to appeal against the decision to an independent tribunal, so the restriction in paragraph 4 applies.
13. The Council’s decision letter would normally advise the claimant of the appeal right. Miss X would have had the appeal right for a maximum of 13 months, up to May 2017. However, Miss X experienced some very traumatic events around 2015 and she had mental health problems, especially from 2015 until 2018. She reports she was unable to open letters or to deal with matters for some of that time because she was so unwell.
14. Therefore, even if the Council told Miss X about her appeal right at the time, I cannot be satisfied Miss X knew about the right before it expired. Also, even if Miss X had known about the appeal right in time, I am not satisfied it would have been reasonable to expect her to appeal then, in the circumstances. So I have not relied on the tribunal appeal right as a reason not to investigate the complaint. My reason for not investigating is as explained in paragraphs 7 to 11 above.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the complaint is late without good enough reason to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman