Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s hospital discharge. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council:
• Did not provide him suitable housing options ready for hospital discharge;
• Removed his right to housing as a resident in his home borough;
• Charged him for care home fees when he was in hospital; and
• Handled his complaint poorly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complains about the Council’s actions since early 2022. I will not investigate any matters arising before August 2022 as these are late.
9. The Council offered Mr X multiple housing options it considered suitable from August 2022 to early 2023. Mr X is entitled to disagree and decline such offers however there is no evidence of fault with the Council’s decision making and so I will not investigate.
10. The Council told Mr X he would need to rejoin the housing register and make a new application if he found his own accommodation. Mr X chose to find his own accommodation out of the borough. There is not enough evidence of fault to consider this matter further.
11. The Council has agreed to investigate Mr X’s complaint about charging care home fees during his hospital stay. It will provide Mr X with the outcome of its investigation within one month of receipt of the Ombudsman’s Final Decision. It is reasonable to allow the Council to address this first, so I will not investigate. If Mr X is unhappy with the outcome he can make a new complaint.
12. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaints procedures if we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman