Independent Case Examiner's investigation failed to address two issues

What happened

Mr D complained to ICE, the second tier of Jobcentre Plus's complaints procedure, about Jobcentre Plus's actions. One of Mr D's complaints was that Jobcentre Plus had put restrictions on his benefits. ICE failed to explain to Mr D that he had raised this complaint too late, outside the time frame in which ICE can look at a complaint. Mr D also complained that Jobcentre Plus had not acknowledged his education and work experience before 2005. ICE agreed to investigate that complaint but then failed to include it in its final investigation report.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. ICE's investigation of Mr D's complaint was largely reasonable. However, there were two failures. First, ICE failed to explain that Mr D's complaint about the restrictions on his benefits was out of time and it would not consider it. Secondly, ICE failed to investigate Mr D's complaint that Jobcentre Plus had not acknowledged his past education and employment experience.

ICE's failure to consider these issues meant Mr D was left without explanations and that he had to complain to us to get the explanations. We found this would have caused Mr D some frustration and inconvenience.

Putting it right

ICE apologised to Mr D.