Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a delay in the Council providing homelessness assistance. The Council has upheld the complaint and has agreed to remedy Mr X’s injustice by providing an apology, a financial remedy and by improving its service. Further investigation by us would therefore not be proportionate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about delays in the Council providing homelessness assistance.
2. Mr X said the delay caused him to become street homeless for a week and this caused distress and a negative impact to his health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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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. Mr X said he told the Council in April 2025 that he would become homeless in May 2025, because he had received an eviction notice. However, he said the Council failed to act until after he became homeless. Mr X said he was street homeless for a week because of this.
7. In its complaint response, the Council acknowledged it delayed escalating Mr X’s case to the relevant team. It said when the case was picked up by the team, Mr X was already street homeless. Once it had been picked up, it placed Mr X into temporary accommodation.
8. As a remedy to Mr X’s complaint, the Council offered a £300 symbolic payment and an apology. These actions are in line with our guidance on remedies.
9. The Council also said Mr X’s complaint led it to introduce a triage team, to respond more efficiently to urgent homelessness cases, to prevent reoccurrence of this fault.
10. These actions are appropriate and we would not achieve significantly more than this by investigating Mr X’s complaint. Therefore, further investigation by us would not be proportionate, so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has taken appropriate action to prevent reoccurrence of this fault and offered him a suitable remedy for injustice. There are no wider public interest issues to justify our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman