London Borough of Waltham Forest (21 002 984)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has already apologised for giving her conflicting and confusing information about her housing application. There is nothing further we can achieve by investigating this complaint.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council provided her with conflicting information about her housing application. She says this caused her confusion and unnecessary stress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
My assessment
- In it’s response to Ms X’s complaint the Council accepted “that the ‘technical’ terminology used in our correspondence to you and in responses to enquiries made by your MP can appear conflicting and confusing”. The Council recognised this “might have caused uncertainty” and apologised to Ms X.
- An apology is in line with what we would expect the Council to provide in these circumstances. Therefore, there is nothing further we could achieve by investigating this complaint.
- The Council has changed it’s housing applications policy since the complaints complained of and so advice Ms X was given is no longer relevant to her current application status.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is nothing further we could achieve from investigating her complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman