Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council made a housing decision on his homelessness. That is because he previously applied to the Court to judicially review the Council’s decision. Therefore, his complaint is outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to support him after he had to leave his shared ownership housing after he was harassed by his landlord. He said the Council’s actions left him homeless for eight months.
2. Mr X also complained about how the Council dealt with his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
5. The Courts have said confirmed we can decide not investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
6. 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.
7. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I read Mr X’s complaint correspondence with the Council.
9. I asked the Council questions and considered its response.
10. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments received making a final decision.

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What I found

11. Mr X self-referred to the Council for support with his housing in September 2020. The Council completed a telephone assessment the following day. Mr X said he owned 50% of a property under a shared housing arrangement but could no-longer afford to live there. He said he was experiencing harassment from the housing association and that he had returned his keys.
12. The Council wrote to Mr X on 12 November and said it had no reason to believe he was homeless. It said he had accommodation available to him and to contact the housing association to get his keys.
13. Mr X applied to judicially review the Council’s decision that he was not homeless. He later withdrew that application because a housing charity had provided him accommodation. Alongside his application for judicial review Mr X complained to the Council.
14. The Council did not uphold his complaint. It said he had a legal right to occupy his property and had no reason to believe he was threatened with homelessness or was homeless. The Council said it did not have to take a homelessness application from him.
15. The Council took a new homelessness application from Mr X in June 2021 and accepted it owed him the duty to prevent him becoming homeless.
16. At the start of June 2021, Mr X complained to the Ombudsman that the Council’s actions had left him homeless for eight months.
17. In response to our draft decision, Mr X also said he was also unhappy with the housing assessment the Council completed in September 2020 and its investigation into his complaints.

My findings

18. The Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate where a person had made an application to the Court for judicial review even if the application is rejected or withdrawn before the hearing. Therefore, Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide him support when he said he was homeless is outside our jurisdiction.
19. R (on the application of ER) v CLA (LGO) [2014] EWCA civ 1407 confirmed we cannot look at the consequences of a decision if investigation of the decision itself is outside our jurisdiction. As the housing assessment the Council completed in 2020 is inextricably linked to the Council’s housing decision which Mr X started judicial review proceedings on that is also outside of our jurisdiction.
20. I have used my discretion not to investigate the Council’s complaint handling. That is because it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints procedures where the substantive matters are outside our jurisdiction. In addition, to investigate such matters would require us to consider what happened on issues which we are legally prevented from looking at, because they involve issues that are outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman