Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to close Miss X’s homelessness application or to place her and her sibling in accommodation she found unaffordable. This is because an aspect of the complaint is late. In addition, an investigation would not lead to a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council wrongly closed her homelessness application and placed her and her sibling in accommodation they could not afford.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 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 Miss X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X complained to the Council in April 2025 when she did not receive a response to a homelessness application she completed in October 2024.
8. She also complained that the Council placed her and sibling in accommodation in 2022 that was unaffordable for them, which led to arrears.
9. The Council told Miss X its records said she found suitable accommodation in January 2025 and no longer needed housing assistance. Miss X said she did not tell the Council this and she referred her complaint to us as she remained unhappy with the situation.
10. The Council did not uphold Miss X’s complaint regarding the affordability of accommodation she accepted in 2022, stating that it assessed the accommodation based on her financial circumstances at the time.
11. The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints where a worthwhile outcome is unlikely. In this case, we can have no way of knowing why the Council’s records do not match Miss X’s recollection of what happened. An investigation would therefore be unable to provide a worthwhile outcome.
12. The Ombudsman will not exercise discretion to investigate late complaints unless there are good reasons to do so. The complaint regarding the accommodation Miss X and her sibling accepted in 2022 regards events that took place several years ago; it would have been reasonable for Miss X to complain sooner. There is no good reason to investigate.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an aspect of the complaint is late. In addition, an investigation would not lead to a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman