Summary: The Council was at fault for delay ending its main housing duty to Ms X and for failing to respond to her request to review this decision. There was also fault in communication and complaint handling. The Council has agreed to apologise, progress the review, make a payment to Ms X, and act to improve its services.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about how the Council ended its homeless duty her. She says the Council:
1. Failed to tell her that the offer of accommodation in March 2022 was a final offer to end its duty
2. Failed to respond to her repeated contacts seeking clarification following her move and removal from the Council’s housing register
3. Delayed issuing a decision ending its main housing duty until September 2022
4. Failed to respond to or progress her request for a review of this decision
5. Took too long to respond to her complaints
2. Ms X says she would not have accepted the offer in March 2022 had she known it would end the Council’s duty. She says the Council has caused her avoidable stress and she remains in unsuitable accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the complaint and the information Ms X provided.
6. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered its response along with relevant law and guidance.
7. I referred to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
8. Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Homelessness law and guidance

9. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (the Code) set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
10. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
11. Councils can end the main housing duty in several ways, including:
• An offer of social housing, whether accepted or refused
• An offer of a tenancy in the private rented sector of at least 12 months, whether accepted or refused. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
12. Councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household. This duty applies to accommodation provided to end the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
13. Homeless applicants have a statutory right to ask for a review of certain homelessness decisions. This includes the suitability of accommodation offered to end the main housing duty and a decision that the Council no longer owes the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 184)
14. Councils must complete reviews of these decisions within eight weeks of the request. This timescale can be extended if the applicant agrees in writing.
15. The council must advise applicants of their right to appeal to the county court on a point of law, and of the period in which to appeal. Applicants can also appeal if the council takes more than the prescribed time to complete the review. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, 203 and 204)

What happened

16. Ms X was homeless. The Council owed her the main housing duty and she lived in temporary accommodation.
17. In March 2022, the Council wrote to Ms X offering her a tenancy in the private rented sector. The letter said this offer would end the Council’s main housing duty.
18. Ms X moved into the private tenancy in late March. Ms X says she thought this was further temporary accommodation. She says she did not receive the letter from the Council explaining this was a final offer of accommodation to end its duty.
19. After moving in, Ms X wrote to the Council to ask her housing officer to update her application for social housing with her new address.
20. In June, Ms X wrote to the Council again. She said she was no longer able to bid for social housing. She said she wanted to complain about this.
21. In August, Ms X complained again. At this point, she remained unaware the Council no longer had a duty to her. She complained about no longer being able to bid and the Council’s failure to respond to her emails and phone calls. The Council said it would respond by mid-September.
22. In September, the Council wrote to Ms X formally ending its main duty to her. It set out her right to ask for a review of this decision. Ms X asked for a review by email to her housing officer.
23. The Council responded to the stage one complaint in October. It said:
• Her application was closed because she accepted a private tenancy to end the Council’s homelessness duty to her
• Although busy, its officers should respond to emails within 10 days. It apologised for its failure to do so in her case.
24. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint at stage two of its process. She said:
• She only received a letter ending the Council’s housing duty in September, over five months after she moved.
• She asked for a review of this decision and had received no response
• She remained unhappy with the poor communication from her housing officer
• The Council took five weeks too long to respond to her complaint at stage one.
25. The Council responded at stage two of its complaint process in January 2023. It said:
• It was sorry for not responding to her complaint in time
• It wrote to her in March 2022 offering her a private tenancy and it had no reason to think she did not receive this letter
• Ms X could reapply to the housing register from her new address
• The stage one complaint showed Ms X had not received the end of duty letter, which is why the Council sent this in September
• The housing officer was off sick which is why she did not receive a response to her review request

My findings

26. I set out my findings in the order of the complaints listed in paragraph one.

a) March 2022 offer of accommodation

27. The Council wrote to Ms X explaining the offer of a private tenancy would end the Council’s main duty. Ms X says she did not receive it.
28. While I accept that Ms X did not receive this letter, this was not because of fault by the Council. The Council usually sends offer letters by first class post, and it had no reason to think Ms X had not received it.

b) failed to respond to her communication

29. The Council accepts it was at fault for failing to respond to Ms X’s attempts to contact her housing officer between March and September 2022.
30. Ms X’s request in March to update the address on her application for social housing indicated that she did not understand the implications of her move to the new property. This was a missed opportunity for the Council to explain to Ms X that accepting an offer of a private tenancy meant she no longer qualified to stay on the housing register. This caused Ms X avoidable frustration and distress, which is an injustice.

c) delay ending the main housing duty

31. The Council said it identified it had not sent Ms X the letter ending its main housing duty when investigating her complaint. It said the housing officer was off sick which is why Ms X did not get the letter in March.
32. The delay issuing this decision was fault. In the circumstances of this case, this delayed Ms X realising the offer she accepted was not temporary accommodation. It delayed Ms X being able to use her review rights. This is an injustice to Ms X.

d) request for review

33. Ms X sought a review of the Council’s decision to end its main housing duty in September by writing to her housing officer. In response to my enquiries, the Council said that this officer was off sick and this is why the Council did not progress the review. Not to have a procedure in place to enable the Council to identify review requests or other time-sensitive contacts when officers are off sick or on leave is fault. As a result, the Council failed to identify Ms X had asked for a review. This was fault.
34. Ms X told the Council it had not responded to her review request in her stage two complaint. This was a missed opportunity for the Council to progress Ms X’s statutory review. Not to have initiated a review in January 2023 was further fault.
35. Instead, the Council did not agree to progress Ms X’s review until she complained to the Ombudsman, and we asked it to do so. This unnecessarily delayed Ms X’s statutory review rights, which is an injustice.
36. Because it never acknowledged her review request, the Council also failed to tell Ms X how the review process worked and that if it failed to respond within the statutory timescales, she had a right to appeal to court.
37. The Council has a dedicated email address for receiving requests to review homeless decisions. However, the letters telling Ms X about her review rights do not include this address.

e) complaint handling

38. The Council failed to identify that Ms X’s contact in June 2022 was a complaint and to respond accordingly. This was fault. It meant Ms X had to go to the time and trouble of complaining again. This is an injustice to Ms X.
39. The Council accepts it delayed responding to Ms X’s stage one complaint from August by over a month. It apologised to her for this fault. It told Ms X that this was because staff shortage had created a backlog. It said it had employed additional complaint staff to address this.

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Agreed action

40. To remedy the injustice to Ms X from the faults I have identified, the Council has agreed to:
• Apologise to Ms X;
• Complete the statutory review of its decision to end the main housing duty;
• Pay Ms X £250 in recognition of her avoidable distress, frustration, and time and trouble; and
• Pay Ms X £250 in recognition of the impact of the delays on her access to statutory review rights.
41. The Council should take this action within four weeks of my final decision.
42. The Council should also take the following action to improve its services:
• Amend all templates for reviewable homelessness decision letters to include details of the email address to which applicants can send review requests.
• When acknowledging a review request, whether by automated email reply or otherwise, include information about the review process and timescales, including the applicant’s right to go to court if the Council fails to meet the statutory deadline.
• Identify and implement a process to enable the Council to pick up and deal with time-sensitive contacts when an officer is off sick or on leave.
• Provide training or guidance to all front-line staff to ensure contacts which express dissatisfaction are directed through the correct process, whether this be the Council’s complaint policy or the relevant statutory process.
43. The Council should tell the Ombudsman about the action it has taken within three months of my final decision.

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Final decision

44. I have completed my investigation. There was fault by the Council. The action I have recommended is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman