Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has targeted the complainant due to her race and sent threatening letters accusing her of anti-social behaviour. This is because the Council has provided a fair response and we could not achieve the outcome the complainant would like.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council has racially discriminated against her by twice wrongly accusing her of antisocial behaviour (ASB). Ms X wants the Council to provide alternative accommodation.

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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 an investigation if we decide:

• the Council has provided a fair and proportionate response, or
• 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 Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and an apology issued by the Council. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

4. Ms X lives in temporary accommodation. The Council contacted her in June 2021 to say it had received reports of noise from her property. Ms X spoke to the Council and denied the allegations. The Council accepted Ms X’s explanation and there was no further action.
5. In late 2021 the Council received reports of ASB from Ms X’s property. These included reports of drug use and domestic assault. In February the Council sent a letter warning Ms X she had breached the terms of the license and could lose the accommodation. Ms X again denied the reports. The Council then received conformation from the police that Ms X is unknown to them.
6. A few days later the Council sent a letter of apology to Ms X. It said the allegations against her were completely unfounded and the formal letter about the tenancy had been withdrawn. It said Ms X is not known to the police and the issue had arisen due to a mistake with the address. The Council offered sincere apologies for the distress caused.
7. In response to her complaint the Council repeated the apology and said it should have carried out enquiries before sending the letter about the tenancy. It said it would review its procedures to ensure investigations are carried out before officers send letters about ASB. The Council denied there had been any discrimination but accepted it should have carried out more enquiries before contacting Ms X.
8. There was an error by the Council because it failed to investigate the reports it received before sending a warning letter. The Council’s approach in 2021 was fair because it made an informal approach to give Ms X a chance to respond. But, in 2022 it served a formal warning without checking the facts or giving Ms X a chance to deny the reports. But, while there was fault by the Council, and Ms X felt understandably upset and aggrieved, I have not seen anything to suggest the events flow from racism; instead, they flow from a mistaken address and a failure to do checks.
9. Ms X denies it is linked to an issue with the address because her home is within a single house, with a shared front door, and it would be hard to work out where ASB was coming from. This may be correct but it reflects the Council failed to do proper checks before wrongly accusing Ms X of ASB.
10. The Council has provided a proportionate response. It has explained what went wrong, apologised, and implemented measures to stop the error being repeated. It also responded to Ms X’s allegation of discrimination. There is nothing more we would ask the Council to do. And, we have no power to get Ms X rehoused so we could not achieve the outcome she would like.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has provided a proportionate response and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X would like.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman