Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her homelessness case. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s handling of her homelessness case. She says there has been delays and failure from the Council which has meant she has remained in temporary accommodation since she was evicted.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A (1), as amended)
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X has raised concerns around the Council’s actions in 2023 about her eviction.
7. I would not be able to investigate this, as the complaint is late. This is because the matter complained about, happened more than 12 months ago.
8. The time for us receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council, or it issued its final response.
9. Miss X has also complained about the Council’s handling of her homelessness case after she was evicted from her property in April 2024.
10. If we investigated this complaint, it is likely that we would find the Council at fault. It has admitted that after it accepted relief duty, it failed initially to take steps to refer Miss X to the private renting scheme and it should have offered alternative temporary accommodation sooner. It has already awarded £900 in consideration of this.
11. However, in line with our guidance on remedies, we invited the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused in full by apologising and providing a further award of £3,000 to Miss X.

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Agreed Action

12. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within one month of the final decision.

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Final decision

13. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman