Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about homelessness because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, says the Council refused to refer him to another council when he became homeless in 2024. He says it has failed to pay his invoices for emergency accommodation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and information about his contact with the Council from 2020 to 2024. I also considered our Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

4. Mr X made a homelessness application in 2020. He was offered accommodation which he declined. The Council decided Mr X was not in priority need and it closed the application. Mr X asked the Council to refer him to another council. The Council said it could not because it had closed the homelessness application.
5. Mr X says he was evicted in March 2024 and spent some time sleeping in his car. He says he asked the Council to refer him to another council but it did not reply. Mr X sent invoices to the Council asking it to pay for the emergency accommodation he found for himself. In July he asked the Council to pay £11,000. I have seen an email from Mr X in which he said he was living in an old caravan that did not have an address. Mr X complained to the Council about these issues.
6. In response, the Council asked Mr X to clarify the complaint. It tried to discuss the complaint but Mr X ended the call. Mr X responded in writing but the Council still did not have many details. The Council did some internal checks but found very little information about Mr X. The Council closed his complaint due to a lack of information.
7. The Council told me it has no record of Mr X making a homelessness application in March 2024.
8. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Mr X asked for a transfer to another council in 2020 but the Council has no record of a request in 2024. Further, given the response he received in 2020, it is reasonable to expect Mr X would have known his request was not possible because the Council had not taken another homelessness application.
9. Mr X has invoiced the Council for accommodation. However, there is no requirement for the Council to pay as it was accommodation sourced by Mr X with no Council involvement. If Mr X had submitted a homelessness application the Council might have provided some accommodation, but Mr X would have been expected to pay for it. In addition, Mr X declined accommodation in 2020 and, in the absence of a new homelessness application, the Council was not required to provide any accommodation or pay for accommodation.
10. The Council declined to respond to Mr X’s complaint. But, I can see it made attempts to clarify the complaint and it looked for information about Mr X’s in its systems. I have not seen anything in the way the Council responded which suggests we need to start an investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman