Summary: Miss X complains about the Council failing to assist her with her housing application after it decided she had made herself ‘intentionally homeless’. We will not investigate as it was reasonable to expect Miss X to use her legal rights to appeal to the county court. And we are unlikely to achieve anything more on the complaint about the Children’s Services department.

The complaint

1. In short, Miss X complains about the Council’s decision in 2022 that she had made herself intentionally homeless. Miss X says she was evicted from her previous home for rent arrears and would like to be given another chance.
2. She says the Council failed to help despite her having a 17-year-old son living with her. Miss X also says the Council has acted unfairly as she cannot afford to rent anything in the area, she has lived in all her life.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
9. Council will apply four tests to decide what, if any, duty it owes to a homeless applicant. Councils will make inquiries to find out if the applicant is:
1. eligible for assistance;
2. homeless or threatened with homelessness;
3. in priority need (e.g. is vulnerable, has dependent children etc.);
4. not intentionally homeless.
10. I will not investigate. Miss X used her legal right to request a review of the Council’s decision. She could have then referred the matter to the county court. It was reasonable to expect her to do this.
11. Miss X had a 17-year-old son who is part of her household There is no duty under the Children’s Act for the Council to provide housing. The Council’s Children’s Services paid to house Miss X and her son in a hotel for 5 months after the Council’s Homelessness section ended its duty.
12. I note the Council had carried out an affordability assessment to check what Miss X could afford to rent in the private sector. It also provided her with a family support worker to help her look for properties in the private rented sector. And Social Services allocated her a social worker so ‘children and family’ assessments were carried out. The Council agreed to fund one month’s rent and deposit when Miss X found a property to rent if her son was under 18.
13. Miss X said she could not afford a property in her preferred area and the Council advised her to widen her choice of areas. It withdrew support after 5 months as it said there was no evidence of Miss X looking for properties. I note Miss X’s son is now 18 and the Council is unlikely to provide any further assistance. We will not consider this aspect of Miss X’s complaint either we are unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.

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Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint. It was reasonable to expect Miss X to appeal to the county court. And we are unlikely to achieve anything more on the remaining complaint about children’s services.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman