Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council refused the complainant’s housing application and left him homeless. This is because the complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that he could not have complained to us sooner. We could not now achieve the outcome he is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complained the Council refused his housing application and left him homeless.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

4. 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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. Mr X has had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making my final decision.

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My assessment

8. Mr X told us he applied to join the housing register in 2019. He said the Council told him it had lost his application, so he submitted a second application. Mr X said when chasing up the progress of his application, the Council said it cancelled the first application and did not mention the second application. Mr X said the Council failed to notify him about this. He told us he has been homeless since 2020. Mr X said the Council have lied about what happened. He wants the Council to allocate him a bidding number and backdate his application to when he applied to join the register.
9. The Council considered Mr X’s complaint. It explained that people joining the housing register must provide evidence for the Council to assess. It said Mr X did not respond to its requests for information. It said in 2019, it closed Mr X’s homeless application as he was able to remain at his address until 2020 and then could re-apply to join the housing register.
10. We cannot investigate complaints received outside the normal 12-month period unless we decide there are good reasons. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We could not now effectively investigate what happened in 2019 and we could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We could not now achieve the outcome he is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman