Gravesham Borough Council (22 010 696)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 Nov 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a complaint made. This is because we do not investigate complaints about complaint handling if we are not investigating the core issue which gave rise to the complaint. In addition, any potential delay in the Council responding to the complaint has not caused injustice significant enough to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a complaint made. He says the Council delayed in responding to his formal complaint as it failed to respond within the timescales set out in its complaints policy.
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 an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (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.
My assessment
- In March 2022, Mr X made a complaint about the Council’s handling of his granddaughter’s housing case. Mr X has not complained to us about the substantive matters that led to his complaint as he says his granddaughter accepted the Council’s complaint investigation findings.
- We do not investigate a council’s complaint handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issue which gave raise to the complaint. This is because it is not a good use of our resources to do so.
- In addition, any potential delay in the Council’s handling of the complaint has not caused injustice significant enough to justify our involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we do not investigate complaints about complaint handling if we are not investigating the core issue which gave rise to the complaint. In addition, any potential delay in the Council responding to the complaint has not caused injustice significant enough to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman