Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her homelessness applications. Her complaint about the period 2023-4 is late and there are no good reasons to decide to investigate now. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the period October to November 2025 to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to properly assess her medical evidence when she was homeless and placed her in unsuitable accommodation, which significantly affected her mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
4. 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

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

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My assessment

What happened

7. Ms X initially applied as homeless in 2023. The Council arranged emergency accommodation and later referred Ms X to an organisation that provided her with supported accommodation in April 2024. The accommodation comprised self-contained flats with no shared facilities. Ms X said that accommodation was not suitable. She reported concerns about anti-social behaviour (ASB) by other people living in the building in May 2024, which the Council said it investigated in a timely manner but the threshold for formal action was not met.
8. Ms X said the Council decided she was not in priority need around the time she moved to the supported accommodation. In response to my enquiries, the Council accepted it did not send her a decision in writing to confirm this and set out her review rights. This means she missed the chance to ask for a review.
9. In early October 2025 a health body made a referral to the Council. It said Ms X was homeless and had previously attempted suicide. The Council said it contacted Ms X to establish if there was reason to believe she may be in priority need, but its initial assessment was that the threshold was not met. It’s out of hours service arranged emergency accommodation over the weekend pending a homelessness assessment.
10. The Council carried out a full homelessness assessment. It accepted a relief duty and issued a personalised housing plan (PHP). It said its assessment was that shared accommodation would be suitable. The Council told us that, by this time, Ms X was staying in hospital step down accommodation. The Council requested medical evidence, which Ms X provided on 7 November. After assessing this, the Council decided Ms X was in priority need. It arranged interim accommodation on 24 November, which was when Ms X had to move on from the hospital step down accommodation.
11. Also in November 2024, Ms X asked the Council to review its decision to accept a relief duty and the steps it asked her to take in the PHP. The Council had 56 days to carry out the review but took 57 days to issue its decision. Its decision noted that many of the concerns Ms X raised did not relate to the issues under review. The Council told us Ms X had not made a formal complaint about its handling of the 2025 homelessness application.

My assessment

12. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events complained about. Ms X complained to us in October 2025 about events from 2023. There is no evidence she could not have complained earlier and no good reasons to decide to investigate now.
13. Even if we decided to investigate, it is unlikely this would lead to a worthwhile outcome. Although Ms X missed the chance to ask for a review of the suitability of the supported accommodation, there is no indication it was legally unsuitable as she did not have to share facilities with others and the Council later decided shared accommodation would be suitable, which was upheld on review. ASB would not usually make accommodation unsuitable as the expectation is that this can be addressed. In any case, Ms X’s situation has changed significantly since the events in 2023-4.
14. Since Ms X made a fresh homelessness application the Council has taken the steps we would expect and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the period October to November 2025 to justify further investigation. There is insufficient injustice to justify investigating the slightly late review decision. It is open to Ms X to make a fresh complaint to the Council if she has concerns about events from December 2025 onwards.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. The complaint about the period 2023-4 is late. There is insufficient evidence of fault in relation to the fresh homelessness application in October to November 2025.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman