Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to properly deal with a homelessness application, resulting in a homeless man living in a caravan on the complainants land. This is because the complainant does not have consent to complain on behalf of the homeless man and the Council did not play a role in the ongoing arrangement for him to live on the complainants land, therefore we cannot find it at fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains about how the Council has dealt with a homelessness application from a man, who I will call Mr Z. Ms X says that she has allowed Mr Z to live in a caravan on her land temporarily, but that the Council has delayed rehoming him and this is causing her worry and is impacting her privacy.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. I cannot investigate how the Council has dealt with Mr Z’s homelessness application. This is because Ms X does not have consent to complain to us on his behalf.
7. I cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint that the caravan has remained on her land for too long, and the injustice this is causing her. This is because the Council was not involved in the arrangement between Mr X and Ms Z, for the caravan to be located on her land. Therefore, we cannot find fault in the Council’s actions.
8. Ms X also complains about how the Council has dealt with her complaints about these matters. However, it is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling, when we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she does not have consent to act on Mr Z’s behalf and because there is no evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman