Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the suitability of the Council’s provision of homeless accommodation in 2019. The complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council placing her in unsuitable hostel accommodation in 2019 when she presented as homeless. She says the hostels were too far from her locality and made travelling expensive and difficult for a mother with young children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says she was placed in hostel accommodation after she presented as homeless to the Council in 2019 fleeing domestic violence. She says the hostels were dirty and had other residents who smoked which was an unsuitable environment for children. She also says she was offered temporary accommodation which was outside the Council’s own borough and had to travel at her own expense on the tube system.
6. Mrs X made a formal complaint about the suitability of accommodation in March 2020. The Council considered her complaint at the early stage and did not uphold it. It advised her that it had to use what emergency accommodation was available initially and that this was sometimes outside the borough. It invited her to escalate her complaint if she remained dissatisfied and in June 2020 advised her to complain to us.
7. Mrs X did not complaint to us until August 2022 which is outside the normal 12 month period for receiving complaints. We will not exercise discretion to consider the complaint now.

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Final decision

8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the suitability of the Council’s provision of homeless accommodation in 2019. The complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman