Birmingham City Council (24 020 042)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 May 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not supporting him to move to another area as the complaint is late.
The complaint
- Mr X says after he became homeless, he moved to the Council’s area. He complains the Council refused to support him to move back to the county he came from.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X moved to the county in 2023 after becoming homeless. He wanted to return to the previous area and says the Council did not support him with this.
- Mr X raised a complaint with the Council in 2023. The Council’s response advised that as he had no local links with the area he wanted to move to, he was not eligible for accommodation support in that area or by the other council. The Council is continuing to support Mr X and, more recently, has offered to explore ways it could support him to move to another area.
- This complaint is about matters that happened over 12 months ago. There is no good reason that Mr X has not brought this complaint to us before and so I will not investigate this late complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman