Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to assess her housing benefit and council tax support claims properly. She states she provided all the information requested by the Council, but it took too long to decide her claims. We have found no fault by the Council in the way it considered these matters.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to assess her housing benefit and council tax support claims properly. She states she provided all the information requested by the Council, but it took too long to decide her claims, asked her to provide the same information more than once and made the wrong decisions.
2. Miss X says the Council’s actions have caused her financial hardship and she has been subject to recovery action by bailiffs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. 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)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
7. 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

8. I have investigated Miss X’s concerns the Council took too long to decide her housing benefit and council tax support claims and asked her to provide the same information more than once.
9. I have not investigated Miss X’s concerns the Council did not correctly determine her claim for housing benefit and council tax support. This is because Miss X had the right to appeal the decisions about her entitlement to a tribunal. I consider it was reasonable for Miss X to use this right to address these concerns.

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How I considered this complaint

10. As part of my investigation I:

• Considered Miss X’s complaint and invited her to discuss it with me;
• Made enquiries of the Council and considered its response; and
• Set out my initial thoughts on the complaint in a draft decision statement and invited Miss X and the Council to comment.

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What I found

11. Housing Benefit helps eligible people on low incomes pay their rent and the Council manages and pays this. The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) set out the rules councils must follow for calculating and paying Housing Benefit. Usually, the Council pays the tenant housing benefit; it is responsible for paying the rent to the person’s landlord.
12. If someone disagrees with a housing benefit decision they can ask for a review or appeal to the tribunal. 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 date of the decision they think is wrong. Because of this opportunity for appeal, we would not normally investigate complaints about these decisions.

Council tax support

13. Councils can award discretionary council tax support to reduce a claimant’s council tax, using their powers under S13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended). Each council should have its own scheme. Somebody experiencing financial hardship because of a decision about wrongly paid council tax reduction, can apply for a discretionary reduction. Appeals about those decisions are to the Valuation Tribunal.

Discretionary Housing Payments

14. A council may award discretionary housing payments (DHP) when someone needs help with housing costs and is claiming Housing Benefit or Universal Credit which includes housing costs towards rent. (Discretionary Housing Payments guidance manual February 2021, section 1.7, as amended)
15. Government guidance gives councils choice (discretion) about when to offer a DHP; there is no statutory right to payment. However guidance stresses that DHP decisions must follow the ordinary principles of good decision making. Councils must act fairly, reasonably, and consistently, and must decide each case on its merits. Councils can exercise discretion in questions asked of applicants and decisions made. (Discretionary Housing Payments guidance manual February 2021, sections 1.11 and 5.1, as amended)

What happened

16. Miss X receives housing benefit and council tax support to help her pay her rent and council tax respectively. Miss X had arrears for council tax dating back to 2020.
17. In June 2022 the Council decided to review Miss X’s housing benefit and council tax support claims. It sent her a review form to complete.
18. Miss X did not return the form and so the Council sent her a reminder to do so in early July.
19. In late July the Council suspended Miss X’s claims because she had not returned the review form.
20. In early August the Council received Miss X’s completed review form.
21. In mid-August the Council was contacted by the Department for Work and Pensions advising that Miss X was no longer receiving child tax credits and working tax credits because she had not renewed her entitlement.
22. In response the Council asked Miss X for further information. She told it she was still receiving working tax credits and child tax credits and she would provide details. The Council sent her a form to help her do so.
23. In September the Council sent Miss X a reminder letter asking for the information it needed to decide her claims.
24. In mid- September Miss X sent details to the Council about her child tax credit payments.
25. On the same day an officer called Miss X to discuss her housing benefit and council tax support claims. The officer had not seen the details sent by Miss X when she made the call. During the call Miss X told the officer that she no longer paid childcare costs and that her child tax credits stopped that day.
26. In late September the Council reinstated Miss X’s claims for housing benefit and council tax support. The Council told Miss X what her entitlement was and explained that because she was no longer receiving child tax credits, she had been overpaid housing benefit and council tax support.
27. The next day Miss X contacted the Council and said the award was not correct as she was still paying for childcare. In response the Council asked her to provide evidence she was paying for childcare again and for her previous two months bank statements.
28. In October Miss X provided the requested bank statements and told the Council she was no longer paying for childcare.
29. Unhappy with the Council’s handling of her claim Miss X made a complaint to the Council. She said the Council had taken too long to determine her claims for housing benefit and council tax support and then made the wrong decision.
30. The Council replied explaining that it had determined her claims as soon as the information it asked for was returned. It said her entitlement to both benefits was correct.
31. In November the Council suspended Miss X’s claim because she had not provided bank statements for a second account that she used. The Council asked her to provide this information.
32. Miss X provided the details, and the Council reinstated her claim to housing benefit and council tax support. It also told Miss X what her entitlement was.
33. In March 2023 the Council wrote to Miss X to her tell what her entitlement to housing benefit would be for the new financial year.
34. In June Miss X asked the Council about her entitlement to council tax support. The Council assessed her claim and told her what her award for the financial year would be.
35. Also, in June the Council sent Miss X a housing benefit and council tax support review form.
36. Miss X returned the forms, and the Council confirmed her entitlement to housing benefit and council tax support.
37. Miss X also told the Council she was in arrears with her rent. It sent her a form to apply for a Discretionary Housing payment. Miss X returned the form but did not include a rent statement. The Council asked Miss X to provide the rent statement so it could decide her claim.
38. In August the Department for Work and Pensions told the Council Miss X’s working tax credits entitlement had changed.
39. The Council wrote to Miss X explaining the change to her working tax credits altered her entitlement to housing benefit and council tax support. It also told Miss X that it could not award her a Discretionary Housing payment because she had not provided a copy of her rent statement.
40. Unhappy with the Council’s handling of her claim Miss X complained to the Ombudsman. She said the Council had only recently correctly determined her claims and the delay had resulted in her accruing both rent and council tax arrears. She said recovery action was being taken against her for council tax arrears and this was causing her distress while she was heavily pregnant.
41. In response we made enquiries of the Council. In its response it said:
• Miss X took too long to provide documents it asked for to determine her housing benefit and council tax support claims. It said it had to send her reminders before the information was provided.
• Miss X holds two bank accounts, and it required statements from both to decide her claims.
• The Council used the information provided by Miss X to decide her claims and her entitlement was correctly calculated based on the information she gave.
• It was not aware that Miss X was pregnant prior to receiving our enquiry letter. It contacted her following receipt of our enquires and it has adjusted Miss X’s claim for council tax support to take into account the change in her circumstances.
• Recovery action for Miss X’s council tax arrears has been suspended. The arrears cover the period prior to her council tax support claim being suspended, the period during the suspension and after her claim was reinstated.
• It recognises that Miss X is in financial hardship and so it had made a Discretionary Council Tax Support award which covers the amount of her council tax arrears for the financial years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
• It invited Miss X to make an application for a Discretionary Housing Payment but she did not provide the evidence required and so it could make the award.

Finding

42. I have seen no evidence the Council took too long to decide Miss X’s benefit claims. Documents provided show the Council had to send Miss X reminders and suspend her claim before she provided the required information. The evidence also shows the Council acted on information provided by Miss X in a timely manner once it was received.
43. Miss X says the Council asked her to provide the same information on more than one occasion. I do not agree. The evidence provided does not show the Council asked Miss X to provide the same information repeatedly. I note the Council asked Miss X to provide details of her payments for childcare on more than one occasion, but this was in response to changing information from Miss X about whether she was or was not paying for childcare.
44. Additionally, the Council asked Miss X to provide bank statements for a second bank account she holds. The Council can ask for any evidence it reasonably needs to decide a claim and while I appreciate it may have seemed onerous to Miss X these were documents the Council needed to see to decide her claim.
45. Miss X says she has accrued council tax arrears because of the Council’s actions and that she has been subject to recovery action. I note that since our investigation commenced the Council has provided her with a Discretionary Council Tax Support Payment which clears Miss X’s council tax account for the financial years her complaint relates to. This means Miss X is no longer subject to recovery action for the period covered by her complaint.

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Final decision

46. I have completed my investigation into this complaint because I have not found fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman