Summary: We shall not investigate this complaint. There is not enough evidence the Council was at fault for saying it had not received a housing referral for Ms X. The restriction the Council imposed on Ms X’s contact with it did not cause significant enough injustice for us to investigate.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains:
1. The Council said it had not received a housing referral; and
2. The Council restricted her contact with it.
2. Ms X said this caused her to feel anxious and depressed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault, or the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Ms X provided and copy complaint correspondence from the Council. I gave Ms X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Ms X does not live in the Council’s area. I understand her contacts with the Council chiefly relate to her desire to move into its area.

Housing referral

6. Ms X understood a social worker had sent the Council a referral about Ms X’s housing situation, so in July 2020 Ms X telephoned the Council and visited its offices to follow this up. She is unhappy the Council said it had not received a referral. The Council states at the time of its contact with Ms X in July 2020, it had no record of a referral and it did not receive the referral until 6 August 2020.
7. The Council’s position seems to have been based on the information it had available at the time. It is unlikely any investigation by the Ombudsman would be able to find fault in the Council saying it had not received the referral until 6 August. So I shall not investigate this part of the complaint.

Restriction on contact

8. From what Ms X and the Council say, it is evident there was at least one difficult conversation between Ms X and a Council officer. On 7 August 2020, the Council told Ms X she could not contact it for three weeks, except by contacting one named officer. The Council referred to Ms X using ‘inappropriate words.’ Ms X believes she was accused of making a racist comment. She is unhappy at that allegation and that the Council restricted her contact without first seeking her version of events. In late October 2020 Ms X told the Council she was still not able to contact it although the restrictions should have ended. I understand a Council officer telephoned Ms X on 3 November 2020 confirming the restrictions had ended on 28 August.
9. As paragraph 3 explained, we do not necessarily investigate every allegation that a Council is at fault. We must consider how the alleged fault affected the person complaining. Ms X says the Council’s actions made her feel anxious and depressed. I do note that. However, I also note Ms X’s contact with the Council was merely limited, not completely prevented. While contacting one officer might not be quite as convenient as contacting a particular Council section or officer direct, I do not consider it is a significant injustice in itself. I have not seen evidence that the restriction itself, or any alleged failure to remove the restriction at the correct time, disadvantaged Ms X significantly in practical terms regarding being able to access Council services. In this context, while I understand Ms X’s dissatisfaction with what happened and her feeling upset, I do not consider the events caused her a significant enough injustice to justify the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to investigating.
10. It also appears that Ms X and a Council officer each say the other spoke rudely or aggressively. It is unlikely any investigation by the Ombudsman would be able to reach a clear enough view now about that.

Ms X’s separate complaint to the Ombudsman

11. Ms X previously sent the Ombudsman a separate complaint that she believes her current accommodation is unsuitable, so she wants to join the Council’s housing register. We referred that complaint back to the Council to deal with first. It is about a different matter to the matters in this current complaint, so I shall not deal with it here. If Ms X remains dissatisfied regarding the housing complaint after she has completed the Council’s complaints procedure, she can resubmit that complaint to us.

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Final decision

12. We shall not investigate this complaint. This is because any investigation is unlikely to find fault regarding the referral and the restriction on Ms X’s contact with the Council did not cause enough injustice for us to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman