Summary: We shall not investigate Miss X’s complaint about what happened when she was homeless. The complaint is late without strong enough reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council did not properly help her when she was homeless. She states this resulted in her having nowhere to live, including in very cold weather, and she was not able to continue with two courses.

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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. 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

3. I considered the information Miss X provided and discussed the complaint with her. I gave Miss X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

4. The complaint concerns events between February and June 2018. Miss X reports she was homeless and asked the Council for help as she worked in its area. She is dissatisfied with what the Council did. She says the Council did not help her, she disputes that it offered her a property, and she is unhappy with some comments she says an officer made in meetings with her (the officer disputes Miss X’s version).
5. Miss X complained to the Council in early 2020 and to the Ombudsman in January 2021. So the restriction described in paragraph 2 applies.
6. Miss X told me she did not complain to us sooner because, while she thought the Council’s position was strange at the time, she did not know her rights or how to complain; she was then occupied with moving to a different part of the country and starting new jobs; she was busy working 6 days a week; and it was only in early 2020, when dealing with a different matter, that she learned more about her rights and about how to complain. Miss X then complained to the Council and contacted us within a month of receiving its final response in December 2020.
7. I appreciate the COVID-19 situation might have affected both the Council’s and Miss X’s ability to deal quickly with the complaint in 2020. However, even before then, Miss X did not complain to the Council (or us) for over 18 months after the events. I appreciate Miss X was in a difficult situation being homeless, then moving away and working long hours. However, someone does not need to know their rights in detail to think something has adversely affected them. Miss X knew by mid-2018 that her contact with the Council did not resolve her homelessness to her satisfaction and she says she thought it strange at the time. On such a significant matter, that could reasonably be enough for someone to seek to challenge a council. Information about how to challenge or complain to a Council, and about how to complain to us, has been readily available for many years. In all the circumstances, I consider it would be reasonable to expect Miss X to have come to us much sooner. I am not persuaded there are strong enough grounds to accept the complaint now.

Response to draft decision

8. Responding to a draft of this decision, Miss X reiterated she did not complain sooner because she had been homeless and she did not know her rights. I have dealt with those points above. I have not disadvantaged Miss X for the Council’s complaint-handling being slower due to the COVID-19 situation.
9. Miss X also said she had limited internet access. I note that. However, if Miss X thought what had happened in Exeter was strange, it was open to her to take advice about how to proceed. I note she later went to an advice agency. I do not consider difficulty with internet access is a reason to accept the complaint late.
10. Miss X described health problems. I appreciate these would have been difficult, but I am not persuaded they necessarily prevented Miss X pursuing matters within, or just outside, 12 months of the events she complains of.
11. Miss X also mentioned being involved in separate tribunal proceedings. I note that, but I do not consider it necessarily prevented her bringing this complaint to the Ombudsman much sooner.
12. Overall, while I sympathise with the difficulties Miss X has had, the 12-month timescale for complaining to the Ombudsman is already a reasonably lengthy period that can allow for various difficulties that might cause delay. It would be understandable that the factors Miss X mentions might have prevented her complaining to us for a little over 12 months. However, the delay in this case is significantly longer. In all the circumstances, I am not persuaded there are strong enough grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate this late complaint.
13. Miss X also asked that, if we do not investigate this complaint, we should tell her whether the Council should have housed her. That is not something on which I can express a view in the circumstances.

Complaint about what happened during meetings

14. Even if we did investigate the complaint now, I note part of the complaint concerns disputed versions of what happened in meetings. It is unlikely we would be able to reach a clear enough view on that point, especially so long after the events.

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Final decision

15. We shall not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is out of time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman