Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Council document including incorrect information about Mr X. An investigation would not achieve anything for him.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that a Council document contained inaccurate and misleading information about him. Mr X says this caused the Council to offer unsuitable accommodation to him and prevented him from successfully bidding on a property. Mr X wants compensation and he would like to know who was responsible for placing the inaccurate information on the document.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
3. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X lived in temporary accommodation as the Council accepted a duty to provide accommodation to him. The Council made a direct offer of a property to Mr X to end its duty to accommodate him which he declined to view. When making the offer, the Council sent a document to Mr X in error. Mr X said this document contained inaccurate information about him.
7. Mr X made a complaint to the Council about the information in the document. The Council explained the document was used to shortlist applicants for a direct offer and it should not have been shared with him. The Council apologised for the upset caused to Mr X.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about inaccurate information contained in the document that was wrongly sent to him. The Council apologised to Mr X for the upset caused to him. This is a proportionate remedy and is in line with our Guidance on remedies. An investigation would not achieve a greater remedy for Mr X. The Council has removed the information from the document. We also would not be able to disclose the details of the officer who noted the information on the document as this would be personal information we could not disclose. So, an investigation would not achieve anything for Mr X.
9. Furthermore, we cannot investigate Mr X’s concerns that the inaccurate information caused the Council to make an unsuitable direct offer. Mr X appealed to the county court about the suitability of the direct offer and the Council’s decision to end its accommodation duty to him. We therefore do not have jurisdiction to investigate this part of this complaint.
10. We also will not investigate Mr X’s concerns that the inaccurate information prevented him from making a successful bid on properties when he was on the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice to justify an investigation. The Council provided details of the bids placed by Mr X. This information shows Mr X’s bids were not successful as other bidders had higher priority. So, there is no evidence to show Mr X’s bids were not successful due to inaccurate information contained in the document.
11. It is also open to Mr X to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner if he continues to have concerns about the accuracy of the information held by the Council about him.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about a Council document including incorrect information about Mr X. An investigation would not achieve anything for him

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman