I have a client whose HB/CTB claim has been riddled with official errors over the past 7 years (ever since tenancy began.) She's put in an impressive amount of work trying to work out whether she has received correct amounts and eventually contacted the LA saying she thought she had been underpaid. They produced a nonsensical spreadsheet and a cheque, which has only compounded matters as now she's been overpaid! She met with LA finance staff last month and they informed her that when they changed their computer system in 2006, they lost (or didn't transfer corrrectly) some info on her claim. They now want her to sit with a member of HB dept and go through her paperwork to "fill in the gaps" for them. She is reluctant, and I don't blame her, and thinking of taking complaint to LGO - any advice?

Mr Deputy Commissioner Mark wrote at paras 33-35 of CH/2935/2005:

"33. If every letter had to be checked for financial accuracy by the recipient, that would be likely to entail either the recipient being forced to contact the council to go through those details with somebody, or going through it with some other person with professional experience of the relevant benefit. The council would not expect either its resources or those of agencies offering assistance with benefits to be used in this way, which would be a substantial drain on their resources.

34. In the standard form first page of the letter awarding the benefit, the final paragraph draws attention to the notes on the back, but none of those notes relate to checking the council’s calculations for errors. The letter does also ask the claimant to check the calculations carefully and to let the council know if he thinks that any of them are wrong. However, for the reasons given, I find it unrealistic to expect most claimants to be able to check those calculations, and I do not consider that the council could realistically have expected that the vast majority of claimants, whether of normal intelligence or not, would have been able to do so. Nor do I consider it reasonable to expect claimants to act as the council’s auditors and to carry responsibility for any errors that they do not point out.

35. If in fact a claimant does check the figures and turns a blind eye to an error that he ought to realise was in his favour, then such a claimant would not be able to take advantage of regulation 99(2). That claimant could reasonably be expected to realise that there was an overpayment. However, a typical claimant cannot reasonably be expected to read or understand the calculations, and if such a claimant does not read them, or tries unsuccessfully to understand them, then the council cannot assert that that claimant could reasonably have been expected, when each payment was made, to have realised that it contained an element of overpayment."

Your client does not have a duty to correct the LA's errors, the LA has that duty. I would carry on with the complaint to the LGO.

Thank you for that, that's the current plan.