Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Miss X’s homelessness and housing register applications. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Summary: Miss X complained about the Council repeatedly refusing her homelessness applications and did not provide appropriate help, despite her disability and severe mental health needs, leaving her street homeless.
   
   Miss X says this exposed her to serious harm, including being spiked and raped, and that professionals (including police) raised safeguarding concerns but she was still left without safe accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. 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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants; or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint; or
• (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X approached the Council as homeless in 2022. She says her application was ignored and then closed. She made further applications in 2023 and made a formal complaint. The Council said in its response that when it asked her to complete a needs assessment on these occasions she failed to do so and was not responsive to attempts to contact her or obtain further information..
7. The Council issued its Stage 1 complaint response on 5 February 2024. The Council says this was its last substantive contact with Miss X about the complaint and that it explained how to escalate the complaint if she remained dissatisfied.
8. Misss X did not bring her complaint to the Ombudsman until 2025, which is more than 12 months after the Stage 1 response and the key events complained about. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. I have seen no evidence to suggest that she could not have complained to us sooner.
9. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
10. Miss X has described complex personal circumstances. However, based on the evidence available, we are not satisfied there are good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate the complaint now. The passage of time is likely to limit what we could reliably establish and what we could achieve by way of outcome, particularly where the Council’s complaint process was not completed at the time.
11. For these reasons, the complaint does not warrant investigation.

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Final decision

We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Miss X’s homelessness and housing register applications. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman