Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to support him after he became homeless due to domestic abuse. He said this means he is left homeless, destitute and exposed to ongoing abuse, which has affected his mental health.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

What happened

5. Mr X approached the Council for homeless assistance. He says the Council did not arrange emergency accommodation and did not provide any support. In its complaint responses, the Council:
• said officers had contacted Mr X to arrange and an appointment to speak to him in person or by telephone;
• said it had offered a home visit and had also offered to arrange a taxi to take Mr X to its offices to meet an officer;
• explained it did not offer Legal Aid solicitors but signposted to other sources of support; and
• explained it could not progress a homelessness application without speaking to Mr X at least once.
6. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it had not made any formal homelessness decisions because it did not have sufficient information to make them.
7. The records seen confirm:
• the Council offered various ways to speak to Mr X to assess whether it owed a homelessness duty, all of which were declined;
• Mr X had not given details of any domestic abuse in the six years before he contacted the Council;
• the Council explained which council to contact if he needed adult social care and it made a safeguarding referral to that council during the complaints process when he said he had suicidal thoughts.

My assessment

8. To progress a homelessness application, a council needs to carry out an assessment of the person’s housing situation. This includes establishing their identify and confirming they are eligible for housing support, exploring the reasons they are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and exploring any medical needs they may have. It is usual practice for councils to require at least one contact in person or by telephone as part of its assessment.
9. Where a person has disabilities, councils may need to provide reasonable adjustments, which means they may need to adjust the way they usually work to enable to person to access their services. The Council has offered various ways to assist Mr X to either meet an officer in person or speak to them by telephone.
10. Where an applicant is homeless because they are fleeing domestic abuse, a council may be under a duty to arrange emergency accommodation. In this case, the Council did not have information to suggest Mr X was currently suffering domestic abuse, but it did not have sufficient information to decide whether he was homeless or not homeless.
11. Based on the information seen, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to justify our involvement. This means we will not investigate further.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman