London Borough of Newham (23 019 248)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Apr 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s fraud investigation into Mr X. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s fraud investigation. He is also unhappy with its complaint handling.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s complaint relates to events in 2021. I will not investigate because the law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter, unless there is a good reason. I have seen no good reason why he could not have brought his concerns to our attention sooner.
- It is not good use of resources to investigate complaints about the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue. And when any fault in complaint handling did not cause significant injustice.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman