Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about rent arrears at Ms X’s temporary accommodation. The Council has offered a suitable remedy for the injustice its fault caused. Investigation by us would be unlikely to achieve significantly more for Ms X.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to tell her promptly about changes to her housing benefit and consequent rent arrears for her temporary accommodation. This caused Ms X frustration and worry about the arrears.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X, copy correspondence between Ms X and the Council and information from a different ombudsman organisation about the matter. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Ms X was in homelessness temporary accommodation arranged by the Council. Housing benefit (HB) from the Council paid the full rent. When Ms X started a job, she knew it could affect her HB entitlement, so told the Council.
5. The Council accepts faults by its HB and temporary accommodation sections meant Ms X did not know for up to six weeks longer than she should have that:
• it had suspended her HB until a decision on how much she was entitled to, and
• she was therefore accruing rent arrears.
6. The weekly rent was £306, so the arrears were over £1,800 by time Ms X fully realised what had happened. Ms X’s income change meant she no longer got any HB, so she was liable for the full rent and arrears.
7. Two months after knowing the full position, Ms X asked the Council for cheaper temporary accommodation, which the Council provided. Ms X argues if she had known the situation sooner:
• she would not have had a large amount of arrears to repay unexpectedly and
• she could have considered her options and asked for cheaper accommodation sooner.
8. The Council apologised for its faults and for a lengthy delay in dealing with Ms X’s formal complaint. It said Ms X could pay the arrears in instalments. The Council eventually offered to pay Ms X £275 and to reduce the arrears by £600, which was a £100 reduction for each of the six weeks during which Ms X had been unaware of what was happening. Ms X seeks a larger payment and wants the Council to waive the arrears, not just reduce them.
9. I consider £275 is within the range of what the Ombudsman would consider suitable for the frustration, worry and uncertainty caused by not knowing what had happened until arrears had arisen and by the delayed complaint-handling. So we would be unlikely to recommend significantly more if we investigated the complaint.
10. It is not appropriate for us to ask the Council to write off all the arrears. Ms X would always have had to pay something for her accommodation once she was no longer entitled to HB, whether that was in the original property or a cheaper property. Waiving the arrears would give Ms X six weeks’ free accommodation, which would be a disproportionate remedy.
11. The second property’s rent was £207.90 a week. That was £98.10 a week cheaper than the £306 at the original accommodation. That difference is almost the same as the £100 a week decrease the Council offered for six weeks. Without the Council’s fault, Ms X might have known of the changed situation, considered her options and sought cheaper accommodation up to six weeks earlier. So the Council’s reduction of the arrears put Ms X in a sufficiently similar position to where she might have been if the Council’s fault had not happened. Therefore investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to result in us asking the Council to do anything significantly different.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for the injustice its fault caused. Investigation by us would be unlikely to achieve significantly more for Ms X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman