Failure to tell man about benefit rules led him into debt

What happened

Mr A wanted to separate from his wife and move into a council property. He told Jobcentre Plus that this was what he was doing, but it failed to tell him that unless he sold his previous property, he would lose entitlement to income support when it was reviewed after 26 weeks. When the error was discovered some months later, Mr A's income support was stopped and he had to move back to his marital home. He could not afford to rent the council property without his benefit payments, and he was unable to force his wife to sell the marital home. In the process, Mr A incurred council tax arrears and suffered significant stress and inconvenience.

Mr A complained to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) but it found no evidence of what advice, if any, Mr A had asked for, or what Jobcentre Plus had told him. It decided that Mr A's financial loss could not be said to have been caused by any misdirection by Jobcentre Plus.

What we found

We upheld the complaint about Jobcentre Plus. Jobcentre Plus should have told Mr A that his benefit entitlement would be reviewed after 26 weeks, and warned him about the potential impact on his entitlement if he failed to sell his property. Because it did not do this, Mr A did not have all the information he needed. If he had had the information, he would not have acted to his own financial and domestic detriment.

We did not uphold the complaint about ICE, which had considered all the evidence available to it at the time.

Putting it right

Following our investigation, Jobcentre Plus paid Mr A more than £1,500. This was enough to repay his council tax arrears, but minus the first month's rent to which he had committed himself before he spoke to Jobcentre Plus. It paid Mr A an additional £500 compensation for the significant stress and inconvenience he had suffered as a result of its failure.