Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing-related debts and Miss X being unable to bid for housing. There is not enough evidence that fault by the Council solely and directly caused Miss X to be unable to bid for housing. It is also unlikely we could achieve what Miss X wants.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council did not deal properly with arrangements to repay debts. She says this has prevented her bidding for social housing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not directly caused injustice to the person who complained, we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council told Miss X she could not bid for housing until she had either paid in full, or was following a payment plan for, three housing-related debts.
6. Miss X was dissatisfied, saying she believed a direct debit had previously been created for the Council to take £30 a month. That concerns events in 2020. A direct debit was created in July 2020 for one debt (for temporary accommodation). However, the Council says it cannot use a direct debit to take temporary accommodation payments. That is a matter for the Council. The Council therefore did not take any payments using the direct debit. It says it explained that in December 2020, during Miss X’s previous complaint to the Ombudsman. The Council also explained this in its stage 1 response to Miss X’s complaint in July 2021. We sent Miss X a copy of that response in August 2021 and said if she was dissatisfied she should first complete the Council’s complaint procedure. Miss X received that information as she contacted us in August 2021 with a query about completing the Council’s complaint procedure.
7. The onus was mainly on Miss X to ensure she was paying the debt. She knew about the debt in 2020. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to have checked her bank account details, noticed the lack of payments, then contacted the Council to make alternative arrangements. So any possible fault by the Council with the direct debit did not solely and directly prevent Miss X from bidding for housing. That mainly resulted from Miss X not ensuring she was repaying the debts.
8. The Council’s complaint response in July 2021 told Miss X she would need to arrange to repay three separate debts and explained how Miss X could arrange payments for each debt. There was no fault in the Council wanting repayment of each of the three debts. The direct debt only appeared to relate to one debt. So the seeming failure to make arrangements on the other debts was also a reason Miss X was not able to bid for housing. I see no fault by the Council there.
9. Miss X wants the Council to waive the arrears and allow her to bid for housing. Even if we were to investigate and find fault by the Council causing injustice to Miss X (and I have not found that), it is unlikely we would recommend those points. Such recommendations would be disproportionate as Miss X owes the Council money and the Council is entitled not to allow her to bid until repayments are underway.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council causing her to be unable to bid. Also, if we were to investigate, it is unlikely we could achieve what Miss X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman