Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s homelessness and his complaint. We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council wrongly ended his interim accommodation when he was homeless and failed to respond to a stage one complaint from his representative. Mr X says as a result, he was left without accommodation and experienced avoidable distress and frustration.

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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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X was homeless and asked the Council for help. The Council initially provided accommodation but then ended this. Mr X had to secure his own accommodation until he moved into a new tenancy.
6. Mr X wrote to the Council setting out the compensation he sought in the form of damages for the impact on him of the Council’s actions. This is tens of thousands of pounds. This is not something we could achieve as a remedy were we to investigate and so we will not investigate this complaint.
7. Mr X has pursued a claim with the Council’s insurers and has indicated an intention to take the matter to court if necessary. This is the appropriate means of achieving the outcome Mr X wants. Mr X has also complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the accuracy of the Council’s records. The ICO is the body best placed to consider this.
8. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. So we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’ s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks and it is not a good use of public money to investigate complaint handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman