Summary: Mr B complains the Council’s homeless prevention team’s neglect and incompetence led to his eviction. Mr B says because of the Council’s actions he became homeless. The Ombudsman has not found fault with the Council’s actions. The Council told Mr B about its overpayment of housing benefit, gave him information about his appeal rights and explained what would happen if he did not pay his housing benefit overpayment.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains the Council’s homeless prevention team’s neglect and incompetence led to his eviction. Mr B says because of the Council’s actions he became homeless.
2. Mr B also complains the Council shared his personal information internally and with the police. Mr B said he was embarrassed.

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What I have investigated

3. I investigated the actions of the Council in relation to Mr B’s eviction.
4. I have not investigated whether the Council shared Mr B’s personal information. This is a matter for the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
6. 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)
7. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. 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)

We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

8. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
9. I exercised discretion to investigate the complaint from March 2013. Mr B said he did not know the Council was in the wrong until 2019 when it recalculated his housing benefit for 2013/14 and found it owed him money.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered:
• Mr B’s complaint and the information he provided;
• documents supplied by the Council; and
• relevant legislation and guidelines.
11. Mr B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision.

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What I found

Legislation and Guidance

12. Housing benefit helps people on low incomes to pay their rent. It is a means tested benefit linked to both savings and income.
13. Housing benefit is payable to those who:
• pay rent;
• are on a low income; and
• have capital below £16,000. (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006)
14. If the council finds it paid more housing benefit than the claimant was entitled to, the overpayment is recoverable unless it was because of an official error to which the claimant did not contribute and the claimant could not reasonably have been expected to realise there was an overpayment. (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, SI 2006/213, reg 100)
15. Claimants, their appointees/agents, or landlords to whom a direct payment is being made, must report to councils all changes of circumstance, which may affect entitlement to housing benefit. (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, SI 2006/213, reg 88).
16. The council may recover the overpayment by deducting from ongoing payments of housing benefit. (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, SI 2006/213, regs 99–107)
17. When there has been an overpayment, the council should send a decision notice to the claimant. This should include enough information for the claimant to check the council’s decision and to decide if they want to request a review or appeal of the overpayment decision. (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, SI 2006/213, schedule 9).
18. The claimant can ask the council to reconsider the decision or appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. The time limit in either case is one month from the date of the decision (Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001, SI 2001/1002).

What happened

19. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
20. Mr B’s claim for employment support allowance stopped in March 2013. Mr B did not tell the Council about his change in circumstances. When the Department of Work and Pensions told the Council Mr B’s employment support allowance had stopped, the Council suspended his claim for housing benefit because it had no evidence of his income. The Council wrote to Mr B in October 2013 to tell him it had suspended making housing benefit payments and needed evidence of his income since March 2013 for them to be reinstated.
21. In November 2013, Mr B’s employment support allowance was reinstated and backdated to August 2013. Mr B could not supply a medical certificate for the period from March to August 2013.
22. Mr B did not provide evidence of his income between March and August 2013. The Council calculated that it had overpaid Mr B housing benefit. The Council sent Mr B a benefit summary letter and decision notice which explained how it calculated the overpayment. The notice told him if he disagreed with the decision he could speak to the Council or appeal against the decision at an independent tribunal. It said he needed to challenge the overpayment within a month of receiving the notice, which it sent in November 2013. The Council asked Mr B again for proof of his income between March and August 2013 so it could reassess his claim.
23. The Council wrote to Mr B again in April 2014 to ask him to provide evidence of his income between March and August 2013. It explained it wanted to see if it could reduce or remove the overpayment.
24. The Council took payments from Mr B’s housing benefit to pay off the overpayment. This left a gap between Mr B’s rent and his housing benefit payment. Mr B refused to pay the difference and built up rent arrears.
25. Mr B made a homelessness application to the Council in September 2014 because his landlord was going to evict him. Mr B gave the Council supporting information including details of his eye condition. Mr B was evicted in November 2014. The Council decided he was not in priority need. With the support of his solicitor, Mr B asked for the Council to review its decision and it was overturned in May 2015. The Council housed Mr B.
26. The Council’s rent recovery team wrote to Mr B in January and February 2015 about his arrears. Mr B spoke to the team and explained he could not read well and him mother helped him with his correspondence. The team explained Mr B had to contribute to his rent because he was paying back an overpayment. Mr B said he would not pay towards his rent and the team advised him to speak to its housing benefit department to query the overpayment.
27. Mr B contacted the housing benefit department in March 2015. He said he had given the Department of Work and Pensions a medical certificate and his employment support allowance would be backdated. The Council checked and this was not the case.
28. The rent recovery team issued a third arrears letter in April 2015. Mr B spoke to the rent recovery team in April and May 2015. He told the team he should not have to pay rent. On both occasions, the team told him to speak to the housing benefit department if he thought the overpayment was wrong.
29. The rent recovery team sent a fourth arrears letter to Mr B in June 2015. The team spoke to Mr B in July and August 2015 to explain his arrears and it advised him to make a discretionary housing payment application. It also told him to speak to an advice organisation and the housing benefit department about his overpayment. The Council put this in writing to Mr B in September 2015 and read the letter to him during a home visit.
30. Mr B contacted the housing benefit department and queried his arrears. The department explained his housing benefit overpayment. It told him he could ask it to review the overpayment decision, but he would need to explain the delay in doing this.
31. The Council assigned a key worker to support Mr B to address his rent arrears. Mr B did not attend three appointments he arranged with his key worker in October 2015 and cancelled one. In November 2015, Mr B and his carer attended an appointment with his key worker and a rent recovery officer. The Council officers explained Mr B’s rent arrears and housing benefit overpayment. Mr B agreed to speak to the housing benefit department and to pay an amount towards his arrears every fortnight. He also said he would ask his bank for statements from April 2013 to August 2013.
32. In December 2015, the Council wrote to Mr B to tell him if he did not make a payment towards his arrears it would discharge its housing duty. The Council also advised Mr B of this verbally over the phone and his keyworker read a letter to him. Mr B told his keyworker that he should not have to pay his rent arrears.
33. Mr B missed two meetings with his key worker in January 2016. These meetings were to complete a discretionary housing payment application to pay off his arrears. Mr B’s key worker closed his case because of his lack of engagement. Mr B did not make a discretionary housing payment application or pay his arrears. The Council discharged its housing duty and told Mr B when his accommodation would end. With the support of his solicitor, Mr B asked for a review of the Council’s decision.
34. Mr B complained to the Council that one of its officers had put pressure on him to pay the overpayment. He said he had not received any letters about the overpayment and the Council had ignored his medical condition. The Council gave Mr B a copy of the original housing benefit overpayment notice it sent him in November 2013. It told him that he needed to provide proof of his income during the period of the overpayment for it to recalculate his housing benefit entitlement. It reminded him that it had told him to contact the housing benefit team if he disputed the overpayment.
35. The Council passed Mr B’s debt to a debt recovery team in March 2016. Mr B contacted the Council in May 2016 to make a payment arrangement. The Council advised Mr B an arrangement could be made, and he needed to completed income and expenditure form for this to happen. Mr B did not complete the form and no arrangement was made.
36. The Council reviewed its decision to discharge its housing duty and wrote to Mr B with its decision in May 2016. The Council upheld its decision that Mr B was intentionally homeless because he failed to resolve his rent arrears.
37. Mr B complained to the Council about his outstanding overpayment in August 2018. The Council asked Mr B to provide evidence of his income between March and August 2013 to see if it could lessen the overpayment. Mr B provided the information in October 2018. The Council recalculated Mr B’s housing benefit entitlement and found it owed him around £1,500 which it paid in December 2018.

Analysis

38. I have found no fault with the actions of the Council.
39. In October 2013, the Council asked Mr B for evidence of his income between March and August 2013. Mr B did not provide this information. Consequently, the Council calculated an overpayment of housing benefit. The Council asked Mr B for evidence of his income for this period again in November 2013, April 2014, and January 2016.
40. The Council sent Mr B a benefit summary letter and decision notice telling him about the overpayment in November 2013. These documents gave Mr B information about his appeal rights. Mr B did not appeal the Council’s decision.
41. The Council was entitled to recover the overpayment from Mr B’s housing benefit. The Council’s deductions from housing benefit meant Mr B became responsible for paying some of his rent. Mr B did not pay his rent and built up arrears. The Council agreed a payment plan with Mr B and explained what would happen if he did not keep to it. Mr B did not pay anything towards his rent arrears and the Council ended its housing duty in January 2016.
42. The Council tried to support Mr B to sort out his housing benefit overpayment and rent arrears. It asked him many times to provide evidence of his income between March and August 2013 and encouraged him to pay his rent. The Council communicated with Mr B both verbally and in writing. The Council also assigned him a key worker to support him with his housing issues. Unfortunately, Mr B did not attend most of the appointments that were arranged with his keyworker. In addition, Mr B had the support of his carer, family and solicitor.
43. When Mr B provided the Council with evidence of his income between March and August 2013 in October 2018, the Council recalculated his housing benefit entitlement. If Mr B had provided this information sooner, the matter could have been resolved earlier.

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Final decision

44. I have completed my investigation and do not uphold Mr B’s complaint.

Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

45. I have not investigated whether the Council shared Mr B’s personal information. This is a matter for the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman