Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s support when he became homeless because the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the emergency accommodation the Council provided between 2020 and 2022 after he became homeless. He said the Council placed him in an area he did not want to live. He also said the accommodation was unhygienic and was affected by insect and rodent infestations. Mr X said the accommodation had a profound impact on his health and the location disrupted his relationship with his son.
2. Mr X also complained he was not able to bid on the Council’s housing register, which he raised with the Council in 2021 but the Council failed to address.
3. Mr X also said the Council delayed responding to his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. 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 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

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

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My assessment

9. Mr X became homeless in 2020 and the Council arranged emergency accommodation for him outside the Borough. Mr X moved to alternative accommodation in 2022 and the Council made him an offer of social housing in November 20223, which he accepted.
10. Mr X said he told the Council he was not able to bid in 2021, but it had not resolved this. In its complaint response, the Council said Mr X’s housing register application should have been active and in priority band 2A in the period it owed him a homelessness duty. It said he was unlikely to have missed an offer in the period he could not bid and apologised for not resolving the issue sooner.
11. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Mr X complained to the Council in 2023 and complained to us in October 2024 about events between 2020 and 2022. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest Mr X could not have complained sooner.
12. In any event, it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome by investigating now, given the lapse of time since the events complained about.
13. We do not investigate a council’s complaints handling if we are not investigating the substantive complaint.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome given the lapse of time since the events complained about.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman