Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to evict Mr X from temporary accommodation. This is because there is no fault in the way the Council reached its decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council evicted him from his temporary accommodation without properly investigating an allegation made against him.
2. Mr X says he has been living on the streets since.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. The Council has said there was a serious incident at the accommodation Mr X was staying at and he was involved in this. The Council said the police are continuing to investigate. Mr X says he attended the police station voluntarily and was told he had no case to answer.
7. The Council says that it has not ended its duty to Mr X and has referred him to other accommodation providers some of which have accepted him.
8. The Council was entitled to end Mr X’s rights to accommodation based on the allegation made against him. The Council is able to reach its own view of what happened separate to the police. The Council reaches decisions based on the “balance of probabilities” which is different to the standard applied to criminal acts by the police which is “beyond all reasonable doubt”. Therefore there is no evidence fault in the Council ending Mr X’s accommodation and so we will not investigate this complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in the actions of the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman