Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council supported Miss X with her housing. That is because we do not consider her brother, Mr Y a suitable representative.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained on behalf of his sister Miss X, about the support the Council’s housing service provided her. He said the Council did not:
• respond to his emails,
• provide Miss X support, and
• engage with other professionals.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. In the Council’s complaint response to Mr Y, it confirmed it had reviewed its communication with him, and that an appropriate Council officer had responded to his emails. It said Mr Y sent emails to multiple recipients, so provided him a single email address for future contact. We will not investigate this complaint further as there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council communicated with Mr Y to justify our involvement.
7. In respect of the complaints Mr Y made on Miss X’s behalf, for the Ombudsman to consider a complaint made by a representative, we must have consent from the person on whose behalf they are making the complaint. We do not have Miss X’s consent for Mr Y to act on her behalf, therefore we will not consider his complaint about the support the Council provided her further.
8. In any event, even if Miss X had consented to Mr Y representing her, we would not investigate. The Council’s complaint response confirmed that after accepting the relief homelessness duty to Miss X, it completed a Personal Housing Plan. It said the role of the Housing Officer was to assess housing applications and carry out statutory obligations and was not a support worker role. It said it had referred Miss X to appropriate support providers. There is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council had supported Miss X to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because we do not consider him a suitable representative.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman