Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in processing a review of a homelessness decision in 2023. It is reasonable for Ms X to appeal against the negative decision to the County Court. There is insufficient evidence of significant injustice caused by the delay to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to determine her review request of a homelessness decision within a reasonable time. She says she is living in unhygienic shared accommodation with stairs which she cannot manage well due to her medical condition.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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.

(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 the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X received a decision from the Council in August 2023 confirming that the Council did not accept that she was homeless and that it only owed her assistance under the prevention duty of the Housing Act 1996. The Council said that she had access to suitable accommodation but that she and her husband chose to sub-let some of the rooms for financial reasons giving them limited accommodation.
7. Ms X contacted a housing aid centre and the centre assisted her in submitted a review request in October 2023. The Council did not complete the review until July 2024 which is over 8 months from the application date and the statutory period for deciding a review is 2 months. This was fault by the Council and it accepted the delay was unreasonable and apologised.
8. However, the review upheld the original Council decision that Ms X was not homeless and only met the prevention duty level, not the relief duty, so she was not entitled to temporary accommodation.
9. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation involved.
10. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter. Because the review outcome remained negative and Ms X’s accommodation was considered to be suitable, the delay did not cause any significant injustice. If she had complained to us earlier the outcome would have been similar.
11. We cannot overturn a decision made by a council on a homelessness application, we would usually expect someone to use the review and appeal procedure to challenge that decision. A review under s.202 of the Housing Act 1996 carries a right of appeal to the County Court and the Council has informed Ms X and her representatives that she could pursue this appeal right.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in processing a review of a homelessness decision in 2023. It is reasonable for Ms X to appeal against the negative decision to the County Court. There is insufficient evidence of significant injustice caused by the delay to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman