London Borough of Southwark (25 011 316)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Jan 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s response to anti-social behaviour. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council placed her in out of area temporary accommodation where she is experiencing anti-social behaviour. She says the Council has not been supportive and complaint management has been poor.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X lives in temporary accommodation provided by the Council. The accommodation is out of the Council’s area.
- Miss X reported antisocial behaviour to the Council. The Council signposted Miss X to the Council for the area she lives and explained she will need to contact them about the anti-social behaviour.
- Miss X complains the Council have failed to investigate and take action following her report anti-social behaviour.
- There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council not taking action and advising Miss X to contact the other council about the anti-social behaviour. The Council do not have the power enforce against anti-social behaviour that is not in its area, so it was correct to advise Miss X to contact the other council.
- We will also not investigate Miss X’s complaint about poor communication and complaint management. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman