Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s decision to stop her Housing Benefit and failure to notify her of this. Miss X said this left her with a debt of rent arrears. We find the Council at fault for not properly notifying Miss X of its decision. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a payment to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s decision to stop her Housing Benefit and the failure to notify her of this. Miss X says this has left her with a debt of rent arrears which she is currently having to pay herself and means she is unable to secure permanent tenancy elsewhere.

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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. 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)
4. 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).
5. 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(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. If someone disagrees with a Housing Benefit decision, they can ask for a review. If they have a review, and are unhappy with the decision, they can then appeal to the Tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the decision they think is wrong.
7. As Miss X would have had an opportunity to appeal against the decision to stop her Housing Benefit, I have not considered whether this decision was right or wrong. I have considered whether the Council properly notified Miss X of its decision.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I spoke to Miss X about her complaint and considered information she provided. I also considered information received from the Council.
9. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and policy

10. The Council manages and pays Housing Benefit which helps eligible people on low incomes pay their rent. Regulations set out the rules councils must follow for calculating and paying Housing Benefit.
11. Regulations set out when councils:

• must pay housing benefit directly to the landlord. This includes where a claimant owes eight weeks or more rent; and
• should not pay housing benefit straight to the landlord.
  (Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, section 95 (1)(b))

12. Rent is overdue (in arrears) once the date it is due has passed, regardless of whether the tenant pays in advance or in arrears. The council’s duty to pay Housing Benefit directly to a landlord only arises if the landlord tells the council about arrears of eight weeks or more.

What happened

13. Miss X was living in Property 1 and receiving Housing Benefit.
14. Due to disrepair issues, the Council temporarily moved Miss X to Property 2 in February 2023 while renovations took place.
15. As Miss X was not living at Property 1, the Council ended her Housing Benefit claim there. The Council wrote to Miss X, at Property 1, to confirm this and explain she could appeal the decision within one month if she disagreed with it.
16. Miss X briefly moved back into Property 1 in May 2023. While she was back at Property 1, Miss X saw the letter explaining her Housing Benefit had ended. Miss X queried this with the Council’s Housing team, and they confirmed the tenancy at Property 1 had not ended, and they were not sure why the Housing Benefit team believed this to be the case.
17. Miss X wrote to the Council in September 2023 to explain she thought the decision to stop her Housing Benefit was wrong. Miss X asked the Council to reinstate her Housing Benefit and backdate it to the day it was cancelled.
18. The Council responded to explain it had stopped the Housing Benefit after Miss X moved out of Property 1 as Housing Benefit could not be paid at a property where she was not a resident.
19. Miss X complained to the Council. Miss X said the Council had written to her at an address she was not living at, and she had not received the letter until months later. Miss X said she thought the Council was wrong to stop her Housing Benefit.
20. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint to say Mrs X was liable for the rent arrears at Property 1. It recommended she contact its Welfare Benefits team if she needed any further support with her Housing Benefit entitlement.
21. In November 2024, the Council reconsidered and agreed to reinstate Miss X’s Housing Benefit claim at Property 1 and backdate this to cover the total period Miss X had accrued rent arrears there. The Council then credited this to the rent account.

Analysis

22. The Council wrote to Miss X with its decision to stop her Housing Benefit in February 2023, explaining its reasons for this. The Council explained that Miss X had the right to appeal that decision if she disagreed with it but had to do so within one month. I do not find fault with the letter the Council sent to Miss X.
23. However, the Council sent that letter to a property it was aware Miss X was not living at. This is fault and means Miss X did not receive the letter until after the deadline to request a review and she lost the right to ask the Tribunal to consider an appeal. This is injustice.
24. The Council has now reinstated Miss X’s Housing Benefit and backdated it which effectively puts her back in the position she would have been in but for the fault. I find this goes some way towards addressing the injustice to Miss X. However, I find Miss X was caused considerable stress and uncertainty as a result of the Council’s fault and I find the Council should do more to address this injustice.

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Agreed action

25. To remedy the outstanding injustice identified above, the Council has agreed to carry out the following actions within one month of this decision:
• Send Miss X a written apology for the injustice identified above. 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.
• Pay Miss X £200 to recognise the injustice identified above.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

27. I find the Council at fault for failing to properly inform Miss X that it had stopped her Housing Benefit claim. I find the Council has acted to put Miss X back into the position she would have been in, if not for the fault, but I find it should take further action to address the injustice to her. The Council has accepted my recommendations, and I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman