Summary: Miss X complained the Council provided her with unaffordable interim accommodation and failed to provide her with appropriate support to manage the rent, when she became homeless due to domestic abuse. The Council was at fault as it failed to carry out an affordability assessment, failed to contact Miss X when her rent was not covered by housing benefit and failed to provide appropriate support with a discretionary housing payment application. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and to increase the payment it has already offered her to acknowledge the frustration and uncertainty this caused. It has also agreed to issue a reminder to officers to prevent a recurrence of the faults.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council provided her with unaffordable interim accommodation and failed to provide her with appropriate support to manage the rent, when she became homeless due to domestic abuse. She says this left her in debt and meant she had no choice but to leave the property.

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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. 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). Miss X’s complaint relates to events from 2022. However Miss X says she was not aware she still owed housing benefit until 2023 and complained to the Council at that time. In addition, Miss X was in a vulnerable situation so I have considered what happened back to 2022.
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) 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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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Miss X and discussed the complaint with her. I considered the Council’s response to our enquiries and the relevant law and guidance.
7. I gave Miss X and the Council the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered any comments I received in reaching a final decision.

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What I found

The relevant law and guidance

Homelessness

8. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
9. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B). This is known as the relief duty.
10. A council must secure interim accommodation for an applicant and their household if it has reason to believe the applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
11. Where a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, in priority need and not intentionally homeless, it may owe them a main housing duty under the Housing Act 1996. This is a duty to secure accommodation for them. Until it is able to discharge this duty, it is required to provide temporary accommodation. This accommodation should be suitable for the applicant and those who live with them.
12. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it. This is important because there is a statutory right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation. This then carries a right of appeal to county court on a point of law. There is no statutory right to review the suitability of interim accommodation.
13. The Domestic Abuse Act amended the Housing Act to say that a person who is homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse will automatically be in “priority need”. This means councils are under a duty to house them while they make enquiries about whether they owe them a housing duty.

Housing benefit

14. 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.
15. If a council pays too much housing benefit to someone, it will usually ask them to repay it. The law says the council can get this money back unless it was caused by the council’s mistakes and it was not reasonable to expect the person to realise they were receiving too much benefit.
16. If someone disagrees with a decision about an overpayment they can appeal to the tribunal. The law says people should appeal within one month of the date of the decision they think is wrong. The tribunal can accept a late appeal up to 13 months from the date of the decision. Because the person can appeal, we would normally decide not to investigate complaints about these decisions.

Discretionary housing payment

17. Discretionary housing payments are payments made to those on housing benefit or universal credit to help cover a rent shortfall or rent deposit when a council is satisfied a claimant, due to their circumstances, needs further financial assistance.

What happened

18. The following is a summary of the key events relevant to the complaint. It does not include all communication and correspondence with Miss X.
19. Miss X lived with her ex-partner at her parent’s address. Miss X was subject to domestic abuse and following police involvement, the police advised Miss X to leave the property. The Council carried out a homelessness assessment, accepted it owed Miss X the relief duty and offered Miss X interim accommodation in December 2021. The housing officer also completed a PHP. This included a section for an affordability assessment. The officer did not complete this section. The Council also referred Miss X to its domestic abuse officer who completed a risk assessment.
20. The Council sent Miss X a licence to occupy the accommodation which Miss X signed. This set out the rent charge of £158.66 a week. It stated that ‘if you work and qualify for some housing benefit you must personally pay the difference between any housing benefit received and the full charge’. Miss X completed an application for housing benefit. The Council wrote to Miss X the following week requesting documentation to support her claim.
21. In late December 2021, an officer also visited Miss X. They noted Miss X said she had applied for housing benefit and for the Council’s housing register and had settled well.
22. Miss X provided the necessary documentation to the housing benefit team in late January 2022.The housing benefit team says it sent Miss X a benefit notification which set out she was entitled to £96.50 per week which would be paid to the landlord. This meant she owed a shortfall of £62.16 a week for her rent. Miss X says she did not receive this notification.
23. In February 2022 the Council wrote to Miss X to advise it owed her the main housing duty as she was eligible for assistance, homeless and had a priority need. At this point Miss X’s interim accommodation became temporary accommodation.
24. In March 2022 Miss X contacted her housing officer. She said she had yet to hear from housing benefit and could not find any flats for less than £900 a month. In late March 2022 the housing benefit team sent Miss X a benefit notification which again set out that she was entitled to £96.51 a week housing benefit. Miss X says she did not receive this.
25. In early May 2022 the Council records show an officer spoke to Miss X and noted ‘housing benefit entitlement advised’.
26. In late May 2022 the Council emailed Miss X about her rent arrears. Miss X called the Council. She said she was initially unaware she would need to pay rent as she thought it would be covered by housing benefit. She said she had not received any correspondence from housing benefit and was struggling to pay her bills. The officer advised she could possibly apply for a discretionary housing payment to clear the arrears.
27. The Council reviewed Miss X’s housing benefit in late May 2022. An officer tried to contact Miss X and spoke with her in mid-June 2022. Miss X confirmed she had recently changed jobs. Data obtained by the Council showed Miss X’s earnings had increased significantly in March 2022. The Council recalculated Miss X’s housing benefit. This generated an overpayment of around £900. The Council sent Miss X a benefit notification following this setting out the calculations. It advised Miss X she would still receive housing benefit at £37.23 but it would take £14.05 a week off this towards recovery of the overpayment.
28. In mid-July 2022 Miss X sent the Council a pay slip for the new job she had started in June 2022. Her earnings had increased. Miss X called the Council to discuss her arrears. Her monthly rent shortfall was around £500 which Miss X said was unaffordable. She said she could afford around £300 to £400 a month. The rehousing officer advised her to begin paying this and Miss X said she would pay £330 that day. The officer arranged an appointment to look at Miss X’s income and expenditure with a view to looking at a discretionary housing payment (DHP) application. The officer spoke with Miss X. They noted Miss X was going to try and apply for a DHP.
29. Due to her wage increase, the Council calculated Miss X was no longer entitled to housing benefit. This generated a further overpayment which the Council notified Miss X of in early August 2022. In total Miss X was overpaid around £1100 in housing benefit. Miss X contacted the Council about her rent arrears. It advised these stood at £1613.26 and were now increasing at a rate £158.66 a week.
30. Miss X called the rehousing officer again in late August 2022. Miss X said she was looking to leave her accommodation to resolve her arrears in late September 2022. The rehousing officer explained she would likely need to pay rent wherever she lived but Miss X said she would stay with friends or family. They noted Miss X said housing benefit were charging an overpayment of £1200 and they noted she was no longer entitled to housing benefit due to her income. The rehousing officer emailed housing benefit to ask why she was no longer in receipt and whether she would be eligible for a DHP for the period when she received housing benefit.
31. The rehousing officer called Miss X again to discuss her income and expenditure. They noted the lowest they could get her expenditure to based on her paying full rent meant she was at a loss each month. The Council has been unable to provide me with a copy of the income and expenditure form. Miss X confirmed she was going to leave the accommodation.
32. A housing officer emailed Miss X in late August 2022 and advised her not to move out unless she had a permanent tenancy to move to, as if she moved out of her temporary accommodation it would discharge its duty to provide her with housing. Miss X responded that she did not want to be there anymore as she was now in £3000 debt. The housing officer asked the rehousing team to support Miss X with a DHP application for her arrears. The housing officer noted Miss X was moving in with her partner and his mother which would be rent free.
33. Miss X asked the housing officer to find out exactly what her rent arrears were and what her housing benefit overpayment was. The housing officer advised they had emailed the rehousing team to provide this information.
34. In early September 2022 the rehousing officer emailed Miss X and confirmed Miss X had arrears of £1930.58. They said as she was not in receipt of housing benefit she could not apply for a DHP. They advised they would complete a referral for support with applying to the household support fund to alleviate some of the cost pressures with utilities and water costs. They noted Miss X had not made the monthly payment of £330 she had agreed to. They did not provide any information about Miss X’s housing benefit overpayment. Miss X responded she had not been at work so could not afford £330 so would pay £100.
35. Miss X contacted the housing officer the following week as she had still not heard anything about help with her rent arrears. The housing officer responded that they had contacted the rehousing team to request they support her with a DHP. Miss X said she was told she would not get a DHP as she did not now get housing benefit. Miss X said she did not know she had rent arrears and asked how to make a complaint. The housing officer forwarded Miss X’s concerns to their manager and a senior rehousing officer to ask for help.
36. Miss X moved out of the temporary accommodation in mid-September 2022 and the Council discharged its housing duty.
37. In early October 2022 Miss X emailed the rehousing officer and asked for confirmation of her total debt including rent arrears and housing benefit. The rehousing officer responded that there was an outstanding balance of £1966.57 on her rent account. They said ‘there does not appear to be a housing benefit overpayment on this account so I would advise that you contact housing benefit to discuss this directly’.
38. In mid-October 2022 the housing benefits team responded to the rehousing officer’s email of late August 2022 and advised Miss X was not receiving housing benefit due to her earnings. They said ‘a DHP would need to be claimed to see if any entitlement would apply’.
39. In February 2023 Miss X emailed rehousing. She said the rehousing officer told her she could ignore the housing benefit overpayment letter because they were aware she was paying towards it monthly. Miss X said she had now received a letter saying it needed paying immediately which she could not do. She had been told she owed a further £1000 to housing benefit on top of the rent arrears. An officer replied that Miss X would need to speak to housing benefit about the overpayment which was around £1000.
40. Miss X remained unhappy and said she had asked to complain but nothing was done about it. She said she had left the property after less than a year with £3000 of debt. The officer confirmed the rehousing officer had sent information about rent arrears and the additional arrears were with housing benefit. They confirmed the housing benefit debt was not placed on her rent account and was for housing benefit to pursue separately. They said the shortfall was due to Miss X’s level of earnings.
41. Miss X complained to the Council in September 2023. She said she had never received a housing benefit notification and was not aware it did not cover the full rent. Miss X said she proved to the rehousing officer she could not pay the full rent and started receiving letters from the housing benefit team that she had been overpaid benefit. She said the rehousing officer told her they had merged the housing benefit and rent debt and it was being paid off in the plan they had set up. Miss X said many months after she moved out she started receiving letters about the housing benefit debt which she believed was sorted.
42. The Council responded at stage one of its two stage complaints procedure. It explained the actions it had taken to relieve her homelessness and that Miss X had signed and returned the accommodation agreement and had applied for housing benefit. It found no evidence the rehousing officer told Miss X to ignore housing benefit overpayment letters. It said it had attempted to assist her with support with her rent arrears and did not uphold the complaint.
43. In April 2024 Miss X asked to go to the second stage of the complaints procedure. She said the first housing benefit notification she received was in June 2022 when she was told it was changing. Miss X said she could not afford the property and had proved that to the rehousing officer. The Council responded the following month. It confirmed it had no evidence the rehousing officer discussed amalgamating the debt. It confirmed the rent arrears were now cleared. It said the rehousing team should have contacted her sooner when it became clear she was not getting full housing benefit and offered her £250. Miss X remained unhappy and contacted us.
44. In response to our enquiries the Council confirmed it had not carried out an affordability assessment when Miss X accepted the property. It carried one out in retrospect which it says shows the accommodation was affordable based on Miss X’s income. Following further enquiries, the Council confirmed the figures it used in the retrospective affordability assessment were wrong. It said it now referred all those moving into temporary accommodation to its floating support service for tenancy sustainment and income maximisation assistance. Where required, further help is provided with applications for benefit or DHPs.

Findings

Homelessness and housing support

45. When Miss X first approached the Council as homeless it carried out an assessment, accepted it owed her the relief duty, and provided interim accommodation, which was appropriate. However, in carrying out the homelessness assessment, it failed to carry out an affordability assessment of the accommodation. This was fault. The Council has carried one out in retrospect which it says shows the accommodation was affordable. However, the Council’s calculations were wrong. Miss X’s disposable income was lower than that calculated by the Council. This leaves uncertainty over whether the Council would have decided the property was affordable if it had carried out an assessment at that time.
46. Miss X’s housing benefit award was not sufficient to cover the full rent and Miss X’s agreement to occupy the property explained that Miss X was responsible for paying any shortfall between her housing benefit and rent amount. However, the Council accepted the rehousing team was at fault as it should have contacted Miss X sooner about her rent account. It has already apologised for this and offered her £250 to remedy the injustice caused. This was an appropriate remedy.
47. In February 2022 the Council accepted it owed Miss X the main housing duty and her interim accommodation became temporary accommodation. The letter did not explain Miss X’s right to request a review of the suitability of the accommodation. This is fault and leaves uncertainty over whether Miss X may have requested a review based on affordability of the property. As a result of a separate complaint to us about this issue the Council has already amended its template letter to prevent recurrence of the fault. So a further service improvement is not required.
48. In September and October 2022 Miss X sought advice on exactly how much she owed the Council. In September 2022, the rehousing officer provided her with details of her rent account debt but no reference to her housing benefit overpayment. In response to Miss X’s further query they again reiterated her rent arrears and said ‘there did not appear to be a housing benefit overpayment on this account’ and so Miss X should contact housing benefit. It is possible Miss X misunderstood this to believe she did not owe an overpayment rather than it was not shown on her rent account. It would have been good practice for the officer to have provided Miss X with one response setting out what she owed but I fall short of calling this fault as they did direct her to the correct department. There is no evidence the Council told Miss X it had amalgamated her debts.

Housing benefit

49. The Council calculated Miss X’s housing benefit taking into account her earnings, and the benefit awarded was not sufficient to cover the rent. The Council’s records show it sent Miss X housing benefit notifications in late January 2022 and again in late March 2022 setting out its calculations. Miss X says she did not receive any benefit notifications from the Council until June 2022 and so was unaware that she was not receiving full housing benefit. I cannot now establish why Miss X did not receive these notifications and cannot say, even on balance, this was due to Council fault.
50. When the Council reviewed Miss X’s housing benefit in June 2022 it established she had changed jobs and her earnings had increased. A check with HMRC showed her earnings had increased since March 2022. The Council therefore recalculated Miss X’s housing benefit and calculated it had overpaid her housing benefit. It sent Miss X notification of the overpayment. If Miss X disagreed with the calculation or the Council’s decision to recover the overpayment it was open to her to appeal this to the Tribunal.
51. In late May 2022 the Council advised Miss X she could possibly apply for a DHP to address her shortfall in rent. I have seen no evidence it provided her any further information on how to do this, provided a link or any documentation regarding this or explained the process. This is fault and leaves uncertainty over whether Miss X may have qualified for a DHP had she been appropriately advised at the time.
52. When Miss X decided to leave the accommodation a housing officer sought to get Miss X support to apply for a DHP. By this time she was no longer eligible for housing benefit and the Council told Miss X she could not apply for a DHP. This was fault. Miss X could still have applied for a DHP for the period when she was in receipt of benefits. It would have been for the Council to decide, based on the circumstances of the case, whether to award a DHP. Although the Council would have taken into account Miss X’s current position and earnings at that time, this leaves Miss X with a sense of uncertainty over whether she may have received support.

Complaint

53. In September 2022 Miss X asked to place a formal complaint about what happened. There is no evidence the Council considered this through its complaints procedures. This was fault which caused Miss X frustration. When Miss X complained again in September 2023 it properly considered and responded to her complaint in line with its complaints procedures.

Agreed action

54. Within one month of the final decision the Council has agreed to:
1. apologise and pay Miss X £750 to acknowledge the frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council’s faults. This includes the £250 the Council has already offered if it has not already made this payment.
2. remind relevant officers to ensure where a service user asks to make a formal complaint it is considered through the proper procedures.
3. remind relevant officers that DHP applications can be made in retrospect for a period when an individual is claiming housing benefit.
55. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

56. I have completed my investigation. There was fault leading to injustice which the Council has agreed to remedy and to service improvements

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman